The word 蝴蝶酥 is formed by combining 蝴蝶 (húdié), meaning "butterfly", with 酥 (sū), meaning "crispy" or "flaky pastry", where 蝴蝶 serves as a visual descriptor for the shape of the pastry and 酥 indicates its texture and culinary category, resulting in a term that literally denotes a butterfly-shaped crispy pastry.