insect
pronunciation
How to pronounce insect in British English:
UK [ˈɪnsekt]
How to pronounce insect in American English:
US [ˈɪnsekt]
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- Noun:
- small air-breathing arthropod
- a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect
Word Origin
- insect
- insect: [17] The Greek word for ‘insect’ was éntomon (source of English entomology [18]). It was derived from entémnein ‘cut up’, a compound verb formed from en- ‘in’ and témnein ‘cut’ (a close relative of English tome), and denoted literally ‘creature divided up into segments’. The term was translated literally into Latin as insectum (originally the past participle of insecāre, a compound verb formed from inand secāre ‘cut’), and seems to have been introduced into English in Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Natural History 1601.=> section
- insect (n.)
- c. 1600, from Latin (animal) insectum "(animal) with a notched or divided body," literally "cut into," from neuter past participle of insectare "to cut into, to cut up," from in- "into" (see in- (2)) + secare "to cut" (see section (n.)). Pliny's loan-translation of Greek entomon "insect" (see entomology), which was Aristotle's term for this class of life, in reference to their "notched" bodies. First in English in 1601 in Holland's translation of Pliny. Translations of Aristotle's term also form the usual word for "insect" in Welsh (trychfil, from trychu "cut" + mil "animal"), Serbo-Croatian (zareznik, from rezati "cut"), Russian (nasekomoe, from sekat "cut"), etc.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Insect bites usually cause a small red bump .
- 2. Another four months and berg was dead , apparently from an infected insect sting .
- 3. Some were plastic trays filled with salad oil ( totrap any insect that landed ) .
- 4. The insect anchored fast to its prey .
- 5. Wood 's ultimate goal is a fully autonomous robotic insect .