biocide

English

“KONTRA Wühlmaustöter”, an old brand of phosphide rat poison manufactured by the company Georg Vogger of Geisenfeld, Upper Bavaria, Germany

Etymology

From bio- +‎ -cide.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪəʊsaɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪoʊsaɪd/
• Hyphenation: bio‧cide

Noun

biocide (countable and uncountable, plural biocides)

1. Any action or substance that can destroy living organisms.
   • 1991, Thomas Berry; Thomas Clarke; Stephen Dunn and Anne Lonergan, editors, Befriending the Earth: A Theology of Reconciliation between Humans and the Earth, Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, ISBN 978-0-89622-471-1; quoted in Cristina Vanin, “Attaining Harmony with the Earth”, in John C. Haughey, editor, In Search of the Whole: Twelve Essays on Faith and Academic Life, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-58901-781-8, page 184:

     [T]here is the inability of the Christian world to respond in any effective way to the destruction of the planet. […] There is this terrible lack of concern for biocide or geocide. We have no moral principles to deal with them. […] Somehow, when I was quite young, I saw the beginning of biocide and geocide.

Related terms

• biocidal

Translations

any substance that can destroy living organisms

• Catalan: biocida m
• Dutch: biocide (nl) n
• Finnish: biosidi (fi)
• French: biocide (fr) m
• German: Biozid (de) n
• Irish: bithicíd f
• Polish: biocyd m
• Portuguese: biocida m
• Spanish: biocida f

See also

• algicide
• amebicide
• bactericide
• fungicide
• germicide
• herbicide
• insecticide
• miticide
• molluscicide
• pesticide
• rodenticide
• spermicide
• viricide

 

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed, probably from English biocide.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

biocide n (plural biocides or biociden)

1. biocide

Further reading

• biocide on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bjɔ.sid/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: biocides

Adjective

biocide (plural biocides)

1. biocidal

Noun

biocide m (plural biocides)

1. biocide

Further reading

• “biocide”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Adjective

biocide

1. feminine plural of biocida