insect

insect

See also: Insect

English

Picture dictionary
insect
A=headB=thoraxC=abdomen 1=antenna2=lower ocelli3=upper ocelli4=compound eye5=brain6=prothorax7=dorsal artery8=tracheal tubes9=mesothorax10=metathorax11=first wing12=second wing13=midgut (stomach)14=heart15=ovary16=hindgut17=anus18=vagina19=nerve chord20=Malpighian tubes21=pillow22=claws23=tarsus24=tibia25=femur26=trochanter27=foregut28=thoracic ganglion29=coxa30=salivary gland31=subesophageal ganglion32=mouthparts
ant ant bee bee beetle beetle butterfly butterfly dragonfly dragonfly fly fly termite termite wasp wasp

Etymology

From Middle French insecte, from Latin īnsectum (“with a notched or divided body, cut up”), 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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsɛkt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnsɛkt

Noun

insect (plural insects)

1. 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.

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

   The swamp is swarming with every sort of insect.

3. (derogatory) A contemptible or powerless person.

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

Synonyms

• bug (colloquial)

Derived terms

• insectageddon
• insecticidal
• insecticide
• insectiform
• insectile
• insectivore
• insectivorous

 

Translations

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) (poka) 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 (yue), 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 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) 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

Bashkir: бөжәк (böjäk) Czech: hmyz (cs) m Finnish: ötökkä (fi), öttiäinen (fi) Greek: Ancient: ἔντομον n (éntomon) Japanese: 虫 (ja) (むし, mushi) Korean: 벌레 (ko) (beolle) Latvian: kukainis m Malayalam: പ്രാണി (ml) (prāṇi), കീടം (ml) (kīṭaṃ) Mi'kmaq: jujij anim, juji'ji'j anim Nanai: колан (kolan) Portuguese: bichinho (pt) m, inseto (pt) m Russian: бука́шка (ru) f (bukáška), козя́вка (ru) f (kozjávka) Scottish Gaelic: meanbh-fhrìde f, frìde f, biastag f Spanish: bicho (es) m Turkish: haşere (tr) Welsh: pryf (cy) m

contemptible or powerless person

Breton: amprevan (br) m Bulgarian: нищо́жество (bg) n (ništóžestvo) Dutch: nietsnut (nl) Finnish: nilviäinen (fi) Interlingua: insecto Korean: 버러지 (beoreoji), 벌레 (ko) (beolle) Macedonian: гнида f (gnida) Portuguese: inseto (pt) m Malayalam: കീടം (ml) (kīṭaṃ) Polish: zero (pl) n Romanian: nimeni (ro) m, zero (ro) m Russian: ничто́жество (ru) n (ničtóžestvo), ноль (ru) m (nolʹ), гни́да (ru) f (gnída) Ukrainian: хроба́к m (xrobák)

See also

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

Further reading

• insect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• insecta on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• insect on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
• insect on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• ceints, incest, nicest, scient

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• (before 1996) insekt

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsɛkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧sect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Noun

insect n (plural insecten, diminutive insectje n)

1. insect, arthropod of the class Insecta.

   Synonyms: gekorven dier, kerfdier

2. (now uncommon) bug (any small arthropod or invertebrate that somewhat resembles an insect)

   Synonym: gekorven dier

Descendants

• → Caribbean Javanese: insèg
• → Papiamentu: insèkt, insekt