cicada
/sɪˈkeɪ.də/ noun
Forms cicadas cicadae cicadæ cicad
- noun Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.
- noun The periodical cicada.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cicāda, ultimately onomatopoeic. Doublet of cicala.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any species of the genus Cicada. They are large hemipterous insects, with nearly transparent wings. The male makes a shrill sound by pecular organs in the under side of the abdomen, consisting of a pair of stretched membranes, acted upon by powerful muscles. A noted American species (C. septendecim) is called the seventeen year locust. Another common species is the dogday cicada.
Etymology [L.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cicada”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details