doryphore

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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A modification of doriphore, borrowed from French doryphore (Colorado beetle) by Harold Nicolson in 1952, presumably under the influence of the various senses of pest. The French term was a translation of the New Latin genus Doryphora, itself from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, lance-bearing; lance-bearer).[1]

Noun

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doryphore (plural doryphores)

  1. (rare, humorous) A petty pedant, a person who complains about minor mistakes.
    • 1952 August 22, Harold Nicolson, Spectator, page 238:
      Often have I tried to supplement my vocabulary by inventing words, such as ‘couth’, or ‘doriphore’, or ‘hypoulic’, feeling that it is the duty as well as the pastime of a professional writer to make two words bloom where only one bloomed before.
    • 1960 December 9, Daily Telegraph, page 19:
      The idiomatic implications of such a word as doryphore in his own text is left for the ignorant to guess. (It means a Colorado beetle and, hence, a pest.)

References

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  1. ^ "doryphore, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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From New Latin Doryphora (the former genus of the Colorado beetle), from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, lance-bearing; lance-bearer).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɔ.ʁi.fɔʁ/
  • Audio (Paris):(file)
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

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doryphore m (plural doryphores)

  1. (biology) Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

Further reading

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Norman

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French doryphore, from New Latin Doryphora, its former genus.

Noun

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doryphore m (plural doryphores)

  1. (biology) Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata).