English
insectivore
Insectivore comes from French insectivore ‘insectivorous’, and goes back to Latin īnsectus ‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectus‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectum
- Frenchc. 1600–presentinsecte‘insect’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentinsectivore‘insectivorous’
- Englishtodaysame form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectus‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsectum
- Frenchc. 1600–presentinsecte‘insect’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentinsectivore‘insectivorous’
- Englishtodaysame form
Equivalent to insect + -i- + -vore
Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’
…
Latin īnsecō ‘to cut into, to cut up’
Latin īnsectus ‘cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body’
Latin īnsectum
Middle French insecte
English insect
The story
In the zoological sense, coined by English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French insectivore.
Linked words
through French insecte ‘insect’
Today it means
noun Insect-eating animal or plant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin īnsectus / insectivore