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insect

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in⋅sect

  [in-sekt]
Use insect in a Sentence
–noun
1. any animal of the class Insecta, comprising small, air-breathing arthropods having the body divided into three parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and having three pairs of legs and usually two pairs of wings.
2. any small arthropod, such as a spider, tick, or centipede, having a superficial, general similarity to the insects. Compare arachnid.
3. a contemptible or unimportant person.
–adjective
4. of, pertaining to, like, or used for or against insects: an insect bite; insect powder.
Origin:
1595–1605; < L insectum, n. use of neut. of insectus ptp. of insecāre to incise, cut (cf. segment ); trans. of Gk éntomon insect, lit., notched or incised one; see entomo-

Related forms:
in⋅sec⋅ti⋅val  [in-sek-tahy-vuhl] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Bugs And Insects
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California Spider
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in·sect   (ĭn'sěkt')   
n.  

    1. Any of numerous usually small arthropod animals of the class Insecta, having an adult stage characterized by three pairs of legs and a body segmented into head, thorax, and abdomen and usually having two pairs of wings. Insects include the flies, crickets, mosquitoes, beetles, butterflies, and bees.

    2. Any of various similar arthropod animals, such as spiders, centipedes, or ticks. See Regional Note at lightning bug.

  2. An insignificant or contemptible person.


[Latin īnsectum, from neuter past participle of īnsecāre, to cut up (translation of Greek entomon, segmented, cut up, insect) : in-, in; see in-2 + secāre, to cut; see sek- in Indo-European roots.]
in'sect' adj., in'sec·ti'val (ĭn'sěk-tī'vəl) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

insect 
1601, from L. insectum (animal) "(animal) with a notched or divided body," lit. "cut into," from neut. pp. of insectare "to cut into, to cut up," from in- "into" + secare "to cut" (see section). Pliny's loan-translation of Gk. entomon "insect" (see entomology), Aristotle's term for this class of life, in ref. to their "notched" bodies. First in Eng. 1601 in Holland's translation of Pliny. Translations of Aristotle's term also form the usual word for "insect" in Welsh (trychfil, from trychu "cut" + mil "animal"), Serbo-Cr. (zareznik, from rezati "cut"), Rus. (nasekomoe, from sekat "cut"), etc. Insecticide first recorded 1865.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: in·sect
Pronunciation: 'in-"sekt
Function: noun
: any arthropod of the class Insecta —insect adjective
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

insect in·sect (ĭn'sěkt')
n.

  1. Any of numerous usually small arthropod animals of the class Insecta, having an adult stage characterized by three pairs of legs and a body segmented into head, thorax, and abdomen and usually having two pairs of wings.

  2. Any of various similar arthropod animals, such as spiders, centipedes, or ticks.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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