insect

English

Etymology

From [[w:Template:lang:la language|Template:lang:la]][[Category:Template:lang:la derivations]] insectum (“‘cut up’”) < perfect passive partciple of insecō (“‘I cut up’”) < in- + secō (“‘I cut’”)

Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Noun

Singular insect

Plural {{{1}}}

insect ({{{1}}})

1. An arthropod in the class Insecta, characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.

   Our shed has several insect infestions, including ants, yellowjackets, and wasps.

2. (colloquial) Any small arthropod similar to an insect including spiders, centipedes, millipedes, etc

   The swamp is swarming with every sort of insect.

3. A contemptible or powerless person.

   The manager's assistant was the worst sort of insect.

Synonyms

• bug (Colloquial 1,2)

Related terms

• insecticidal
• insecticide
• insectivore
• insectivorous

Translations

Arabic: حشرة Armenian: միջատ (miǰat) Chinese: 昆虫 (kunchong) Bosnian: insekt m., buba f. Breton: amprevan m. -ed pl. (1,3) Catalan: insecte Cherokee: ᏍᎪᏱ (sgoyi) Croatian: insekt hr(hr) m., kukac hr(hr) m. Czech: hmyz m. (1,2) Danish: insekt da(da) Dutch: insect n. (1), nietsnut (3) Esperanto: insekto Estonian: putukas Finnish: hyönteinen, itikka (colloquial) (1); itikka (3) French: insecte m. (1,3) German: Insekt de(de) n. Greek: έντομο n. (éntomo) Hebrew: please add this translation if you can Hindi: कीड़ा (kī.da) Hungarian: rovar (1) Ido: insekto Interlingua: insecto (1,3)

Italian: insetto it(it) Japanese: 昆虫 (こんちゅう) (mushi), 虫 (むし) Lithuanian: vabzdys m. Lojban: cinki Maltese: insett Marathi: कीडा (kīda) Mongolian: шавьж mn(mn) (šav'ž) Norwegian: insekt no(no) n. Polish: owad m. (1), robak m. (2), zero n. (3) Portuguese: inseto m. (1,3) Romanian: insectă f. (1) Russian: насекомое ru(ru) n. Serbian: buba, kukac Slovene: žuželka f. (1), insekt m. (1) Spanish: insecto es(es) m. Swahili: mdudu Swedish: insekt c. (1) Telugu: పురుగు (purugu), కీటకం (keeTakaM) Tagalog: insekto f. (1) Turkish: böcek (1), haşere (2) Ukrainian: комаха uk(uk) f. Urdu: کیڑا (ki.dā) Vietnamese: sâu bọ vi(vi), côn trùng vi(vi)

Anagrams

• incest
• nicest

See also

• arachnid
• arthropod
• beetle
• bug
• chafer
• coleopter
• entomology
• larva
• worm

Elsewhere on the web

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