locust

Senso (Inglese)

Noun

1. Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, (especially) migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria).
2. A fruit or pod of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua).
3. Any of various often leguminous trees and shrubs, especially of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; locust tree.
4. A cicada.
5. A Mainlander.

Verb

To come in a swarm.

Pronunciato come (IPA)

/ˈləʊ.kəst/

Etimologia (Inglese)

From Middle English locuste, locust, from Anglo-Norman locuste, Middle French locuste, and their source, Latin locusta (“locust, crustacean, lobster”). Doublet of langouste.
The tree sense, originally referring to the carob (compare locust bean), is based on the resemblance of the trees' beanlike seed pods to the insect and is likely a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἀκρίς (akrís).
The sense in "Mainlander" is a semantic loan from Cantonese 蝗蟲／蝗虫 (wong4 cung4), also meaning "locust".