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aphid

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English

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Etymology

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Probable etymology of 'aphis' by misreading Greek κορις as αφις.[1]

From New Latin aphis (plural aphides), coined by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. His inspiration for the name remains unclear; OED suggests it might stem from a misreading of Ancient Greek κορις (koris, “bug”) (see diagram),[1] in which case the nominative -ις (-is) suffix was reanalyzed as -ις, -ιδος (-is, -idos); while AHD suggests a connection to Ancient Greek ἀφειδής (apheidḗs, “unsparing, lavishly borrowed”) in reference to the insects' voracity or rapid rate of production, from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + φείδομαι (pheídomai, “to spare, be thrifty, be merciful”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”).[2]

Doublet of aphis.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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aphid (plural aphids)

  1. A sap-sucking insect pest of the superfamily Aphidoidea; an aphidian.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “aphid”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “aphid”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
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