English [ edit ]
Etymology [ edit ]
From Middle French insecte , from Latin īnsectum , from īnsectus ( “ cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body ” ) , from perfect passive participle of īnsecō ( “ I cut into, I cut up ” ) , from in- + secō ( “ I cut ” ) , from the notion that the insect's body is "cut into" three sections (head , thorax , abdomen ). Calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον ( éntomon , “ insect ” ) , from ἔντομος ( éntomos , “ cut into pieces ” ) .
Pronunciation [ edit ]
insect (plural insects )
An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs , up to four wings , and a chitinous exoskeleton .
2013 May-June, William E. Conner , “An Acoustic Arms Race ”, in American Scientist , volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
Our shed has several insect infestions, including ants, yellowjackets, and wasps.
( colloquial ) Any small arthropod similar to an insect, including spiders , centipedes , millipedes , etc.
The swamp is swarming with every sort of insect .
( derogatory ) A contemptible or powerless person.
The manager’s assistant was the worst sort of insect .
Synonyms [ edit ]
Derived terms [ edit ]
Translations [ edit ]
arthropod of class Insecta
Afrikaans: insek (af)
Albanian: kandërr (sq) f , insekt (sq) m
Arabic: حَشَرَة f ( ḥašara )
Egyptian Arabic: حشرة f ( ḥašara )
Armenian: միջատ (hy) ( miǰat )
Assamese: পোক ( pük )
Asturian: inseutu (ast) m
Azerbaijani: cücü (az) , həşərat (az)
Bashkir: бөжәк ( böjäk )
Basque: intsektu (eu) , zomorro (eu)
Belarusian: насяко́мае n ( nasjakómaje ) , казу́рка f ( kazúrka ) , вуся́к m ( vusják ) , гмыз m ( hmyz )
Bengali: পোকা (bn) ( pōka )
Breton: amprevan (br) m
Bulgarian: насеко́мо (bg) n ( nasekómo ) , инсе́кт m ( insékt )
Burmese: ပိုး (my) ( pui: ) , အင်းဆက် (my) ( ang:hcak )
Catalan: insecte (ca) m
Chamicuro: sokajsu
Cherokee: ᏍᎪᏱ ( sgoyi )
Chinese:
Cantonese: 昆蟲 / 昆虫 ( kwan1 cung4 ) , 蟲 / 虫 (yue) ( cung4 )
Dungan: чун ( čun ) , чунчунзы ( čunčunzɨ ) , чунчур ( čunčur )
Hakka: 昆蟲 / 昆虫 ( khûn-chhùng ) , 蟲仔 / 虫仔 ( chhùng-è )
Mandarin: 昆蟲 / 昆虫 (zh) ( kūnchóng ) , 蟲子 / 虫子 (zh) ( chóngzi ) , 蟲 / 虫 (zh) ( chóng )
Min Nan: 蟲豸 / 虫豸 ( thâng-thoā ) , 昆蟲 / 昆虫 ( khun-thiông )
Chukchi: кээрэчьын ( kėėrėčʹyn )
Crimean Tatar: böcek , aşer
Czech: hmyz (cs) m
Danish: insekt (da)
Dutch: insect (nl) n , kerfdier n
Esperanto: insekto
Estonian: putukas (et)
Faroese: skordýr n
Finnish: hyönteinen (fi)
French: insecte (fr) m
Galician: insecto (gl) m
Georgian: მწერი (ka) ( mc̣eri )
German: Insekt (de) n , Kerbtier (de) n ( rare ) , Kerf (de) m ( rare )
Greek: έντομο (el) n ( éntomo )
Ancient: ἔντομον n ( éntomon )
Haitian Creole: ensèk
Hawaiian: mea kolo
Hebrew: חֶרֶק (he) m ( khérek )
Hindi: कीड़ा (hi) m ( kīṛā ) , कीट (hi) m ( kīṭ ) , पोका (hi) m ( pokā )
Hungarian: rovar (hu)
Icelandic: skordýr (is) n
Ido: insekto (io)
Indonesian: serangga (id)
Ingrian: sikiäin
Interlingua: insecto
Irish: feithid f
Italian: insetto (it) m
Japanese: 昆虫 (ja) ( こんちゅう, konchū )
Javanese: angga-angga , walang (jv)
Kannada: ಕೀಟ (kn) ( kīṭa )
Kashmiri: کیٛۆم ( kyom )
Kazakh: жәндік ( jändık ) , бунақдене ( bunaqdene ) , құрт-құмырсқа (kk) ( qūrt-qūmyrsqa ) , шыбын-шіркей ( şybyn-şırkei )
Khmer: សត្វល្អិត (km) ( sat lʼət )
Korean: 곤충(昆蟲) (ko) ( gonchung )
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: kêz (ku)
Kyrgyz: чымын-чиркей ( çımın-çirkey ) , курт-кумурска ( kurt-kumurska )
Lao: ແມງໄມ້ (lo) ( mǣng mai )
Latgalian: kustūneits m
Latin: īnsectum n
Latvian: kukainis m , insekts m
Lithuanian: vabzdys m
Macedonian: инсект m ( insekt )
Malagasy: bibikely (mg)
Malay: serangga (ms)
Malayalam: ഷഡ്പദം (ml) ( ṣaḍpadaṃ ) , പ്രാണി (ml) ( prāṇi )
Maltese: insett m
Manx: beisteig
Maori: pēpeke , mū , haukituri ( flying )
Marathi: कीड़ा ( kīड़ā )
Mi'kmaq: jujij anim , juji'ji'j anim
Mon: ထၟ
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: шавьж (mn) ( šavʹž ) , шавьж хорхой ( šavʹž xorxoj ) , хорхой (mn) ( xorxoj )
Nahuatl: yolkatsin
Nanai: колан ( kolan )
Navajo: chʼosh bijáád hastání , chʼosh
Norwegian:
Bokmål: insekt (no) n
Nynorsk: insekt n
Occitan: insècte (oc) m
Oriya: କୀଟ (or) ( kiṭô )
Pashto: حشره (ps) f ( hašará ) , خزنده (ps) f ( xazǝnda )
Persian: حشره (fa) ( hašare )
Polish: owad (pl) m , robak (pl) m , insekt (pl) m
Portuguese: inseto (pt) m
Romanian: insectă (ro) f
Russian: насеко́мое (ru) n ( nasekómoje ) , бука́шка (ru) f ( bukáška ) ( colloquial ) , козя́вка (ru) f ( kozjávka ) ( colloquial )
Rusyn: хроба́к m ( xrobák ) , хро́бач f ( xróbač ) ( collective )
Sanskrit: जन्तु (sa) ( jantu )
Sardinian:
Campidanese: babballotti m
Logudorese: babbaùzzu m
Scottish Gaelic: meanbh-fhrìde f , frìde f , biastag f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ѝнсект m , бу̏ба f , ку́кац m
Roman: ìnsekt (sh) m , bȕba (sh) f , kúkac (sh) m
Seychellois Creole: bebet
Sicilian: nzettu (scn) m , insettu (scn) m
Slovak: hmyz (sk) m
Slovene: žuželka (sl) f , insekt m
Spanish: insecto (es) m
Swahili: mdudu (sw)
Swedish: insekt (sv) c
Sylheti: ꠙꠥꠇ ( fuk )
Tagalog: insekto (tl) f
Tajik: ҳашара (tg) ( hašara )
Tamil: பூச்சி (ta) ( pūcci )
Tarifit: abeɛɛuš m
Tatar: бөҗәк (tt) ( böcäk )
Telugu: పురుగు (te) ( purugu ) , కీటకం (te) ( kīṭakaṁ )
Thai: แมลง (th) ( má-lɛɛng )
Tibetan: འབུ་སྲིན ( 'bu srin ) , འབུ ( 'bu )
Tigrinya: ሓሽራ ( ḥašra )
Tongan: ʻinisēkite
Turkish: böcek (tr) , haşere (tr)
Turkmen: möjek (tk)
Ukrainian: кома́ха (uk) f ( komáxa ) , кома́шка f ( komáška )
Urdu: کیڑا m ( kīṛā )
Uyghur: ھاشارەت ( hasharet )
Uzbek: hasharot (uz)
Veps: gaved
Vietnamese: sâu bọ (vi) , côn trùng (vi) (昆蟲 )
Volapük: näsäk (vo)
Welsh: pryfyn (cy) , pryf (cy) m , pryfed (cy) m pl
West Frisian: ynsekt (fy) n
White Hmong: kab
Wolof: gunóor
Yiddish: אינסעקט m ( insekt )
Yoruba: kòkòrò
Yámana: wankara
Zazaki: heserat n , xezende
colloquial: any small arthropod
contemptible or powerless person
See also [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Anagrams [ edit ]
Alternative forms [ edit ]
Etymology [ edit ]
Originally having a wider meaning (sense 2), as in Aristotle. From Latin īnsectum ( “ bug; cut up ” ) , from īnsecō ( “ I cut up into ” ) . The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον ( éntomon , “ bug ” ) , from ἔντομος ( éntomos ) .
Pronunciation [ edit ]
IPA (key ) : /ɪnˈsɛkt/
Hyphenation: in‧sect
Rhymes: -ɛkt
insect n (plural insecten , diminutive insectje n )
insect , arthropod of the class Insecta .
Synonyms: gekorven dier , kerfdier
( now uncommon ) bug ( any small arthropod or invertebrate that somewhat resembles an insect )
Synonym: gekorven dier
Related terms [ edit ]
Descendants [ edit ]