termite

From French termite, which is from Latin termites, plural of termes.

Also possibly a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *term- (“drill”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜː(ɹ).maɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)maɪt

termite (plural termites)

1. A white-bodied, wood-consuming insect of the infraorder Isoptera, in the order Blattodea.
   • 1802, Francis William Blagdon, Modern Discoveries; or, a Collection of facts and observations, volume IV, page 162:

     Linnæus describes this insect under the Latin name of Termes; and citizen Cuvier speaks of it under that of Termites. The vulgar call it by that of white ant, or fourmi vaguevague. The termites divide themselves into societies: each society builds itself a next, and each nest belongs to an innumerable quantity of these insects, who acknowledge for their chiefs a king and a queen.

2. A contemptible person.
   • 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 31:

     This two faced termite has the nerve to talk.

• (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect): termes, white ant, wood ant

termite (third-person singular simple present termites, present participle termiting, simple past and past participle termited)

1. (intransitive) Of a chimpanzee: to catch termites by inserting a stick or vine into their nest and waiting for them to climb up it.

• termite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• emitter

Back-formation from termites. From Late Latin termites (plural of termes), late variant of the Classical Latin tarmes (“woodworm”).

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁ.mit/

termite m or f (plural termites)

1. termite (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect)

   Synonym: fourmi blanche

   • 1798, Georges Cuvier, Tableau élémentaire de l'histoire naturelle des animaux, page 479:

     Les termites parfaits ont le corps et la tête applatis horizontalement ; trois articles à tous les doigts. Leurs antennes, en forme de chapelet, les distinguent assez des autres genres de cet ordre. […]
     1. Le termite belliqueux. (Termes fatale.)
     Est l’espèce la plus grande et la plus commune. […]
     2. Le termite atroce. (Termes arda.)
     Noir, à pieds pâles, et
     3. Le termite mordant. (Termes mordax.)
     Noir, à pieds de même couleur.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

While most dictionaries give termite as masculine, it is commonly used as a feminine noun, due to the ending -ite.

• → Romanian: termită

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

From Late Latin termitem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛr.mi.te/
• Rhymes: -ɛrmite
• Hyphenation: tèr‧mi‧te

termite f (plural termiti)

1. termite (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect)

• termite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• metrite, rimette, temerti

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈter.mi.te/, [ˈt̪ɛrmɪt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈter.mi.te/, [ˈt̪ɛrmit̪e]

termite m

1. ablative singular of termes