[in-sekt] 
| 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. |
| 4. | of, pertaining to, like, or used for or against insects: an insect bite; insect powder. |
| in·sect (ĭn'sěkt') n.
[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. |
insect in·sect (ĭn'sěkt')
n.
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.
Any of various similar arthropod animals, such as spiders, centipedes, or ticks.
| insect (ĭn'sěkt') Pronunciation Key
Any of very numerous, mostly small arthropods of the class Insecta, having six segmented legs in the adult stage and a body divided into three parts (the head, thorax, and abdomen). The head has a pair of antennae and the thorax usually has one or two pairs of wings. Most insects undergo substantial change in form during development from the young to the adult stage. More than 800,000 species are known, most of them beetles. Other insects include flies, bees, ants, grasshoppers, butterflies, cockroaches, aphids, and silverfish. See Notes at biomass, bug, entomology. |
sɛkt