English
insect
Insect comes from Latin īnsectus ‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sek-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaō‘to cut’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecō‘to cut’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsecō‘to cut into, to cut up’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectus‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’perfect passive participle of īnsecō
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectum
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600insecte
- Englishearliest quotation 1756insect
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaō‘to cut’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecō‘to cut’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsecō‘to cut into, to cut up’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectus‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’perfect passive participle of īnsecō
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectum
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600insecte
- Englishearliest quotation 1756insect
Earliest quotation: 1756, Samuel Johnson, To Which Are Prefixed: “Ambroſe Parey has a picture of the ſalamander, with…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’
saw, design, sign, ship, seal, sack, scarlet, sawyer, sax, scythe, shingle, sich, sigil, desiccation, sedge, desiccant, sain, 59 more
through Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’
sexuality, homosexual, dissection, 18 more
through Latin secō ‘to cut’
risk, sex, sexual, section, segment, sickle, het, dissect, brassica, seg, 21 more
Today it means
noun An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sek- / insect