Etymology
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insectivorous (adj.)

1610s; see insect + -vorous "eating, devouring." The mammalian class of Insectivora is from 1821; insectivore (n.) is from 1858 (both are earlier in French).

Entries linking to insectivorous

insect (n.)
c. 1600, from Latin (animal) insectum "(animal) with a notched or divided body," literally "cut into," noun use of neuter past participle of insectare "to cut into, to cut up," from in- "into" (from PIE root *en "in") + secare "to cut" (from PIE root *sek- "to cut").

The Latin word is Pliny's loan-translation of Greek entomon "insect" (see entomology), which was Aristotle's term for this class of life, in reference to their "notched" bodies. First in English in 1601 in Holland's translation of Pliny. In zoology, in reference to a class of animals, 1753. Translations of Aristotle's term also form the usual word for "insect" in Welsh (trychfil, from trychu "cut" + mil "animal"), Serbo-Croatian (zareznik, from rezati "cut"), Russian (nasekomoe, from sekat "cut"), etc. Insectarian "one who eats insects" is attested from 1893.

Among the adjectival forms that have been tried in English (and mostly rejected by disuse) are insectile (1620s), insectic (1767), insective (1834), insectual (1849), insectine (1853), insecty (1859), insectan (1888).
-vorous 
word-forming element meaning "eating," from Latin -vorous, from stem of vorare "to devour" (from PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring").

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Definitions of insectivorous

insectivorous (adj.)
(of animals and plants) feeding on insects;
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near insectivorous

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inseminate

insemination

insensate

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