- insect
- c.1600, from L. insectum (animal) "(animal) with a notched or divided body," lit. "cut into," from neuter 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 English in 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.