insect: [17] The Greek word for ‘insect’ was éntomon (source of English entomology [18]). It was derived from entémnein ‘cut up’, a compound verb formed from en- ‘in’ and témnein ‘cut’ (a close relative of English tome), and denoted literally ‘creature divided up into segments’. The term was translated literally into Latin as insectum (originally the past participle of insecāre, a compound verb formed from inand secāre ‘cut’), and seems to have been introduced into English in Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Natural History 1601. => section
insect (n.)
c. 1600, from Latin (animal) insectum "(animal) with a notched or divided body," literally "cut into," from neuter past participle of insectare "to cut into, to cut up," from in- "into" (see in- (2)) + secare "to cut" (see section (n.)). 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. 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.
雙語例句
1. Honeybees use one of the most sophisticated communication systems of any insect.
蜜蜂之間所用的交流方式是昆蟲中最為復雜的方式之一。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Many kinds of insect find their mates by scent.
許多昆蟲通過氣味找到交配對象。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Chambers' voice droned, maddening as an insect around his head.
錢伯斯一直在他耳邊嗡嗡地說個不停，他都快瘋了。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The insect's wings are almost transparent.
這昆蟲的翅膀幾乎是透明的。
來自《權威詞典》
5. a species of insect previously unknown to science