# insect

Pronunciation: say "IN-sekt" /ˈɪn.sɛkt/

## Noun

1. A six-legged arthropod with a hard outer skeleton and up to four wings, belonging to the class Insecta.
   - Simple: A small animal with six legs, a hard outer shell, and often wings.
   - _Every insect breathes through tiny holes along the sides of its body._
   - _Beetles make up the largest group of insects on the planet._
2. Any small arthropod resembling a true insect, including spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Any small crawling creature like an insect, such as a spider or centipede, even though it is not a true insect.
3. A contemptible or powerless person, regarded as beneath notice or respect.
   - Simple: A person treated as weak, unimportant, or not worth caring about.
   - _The tyrant regarded ordinary citizens as insects beneath his notice._
   - _"Get out of my office, you miserable little insect!" he shouted at the intern._

## Origin

From Middle French insecte, from Latin īnsectum ("cut into, with a notched body"), based on the verb īnsecō ("I cut into"), from in- plus secō ("I cut"); the idea being that an insect's body is "cut into" three sections: head, thorax, and abdomen. It is a calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον (éntomon, "insect"), from ἔντομος ("cut into pieces").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/insect (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).