locust

Meaning

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. (historical) 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. (Hong-Kong, derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) A Mainlander.
6. (UK, obsolete, slang) A dose of laudanum.

Verb

To come in a swarm.

Synonyms

grasshopper

cricket

🦗

cicada

locust tree

Robinia

black locust

patanga

short-horned grasshopper

false acacias

grass-hopper

bristly locust

moss locust

rose acacia

yellow locust

acacia

locustidae

ant

🐜

dragonfly

fly

✈️

grig

a species of grasshoppers

Translations

criquet

locuste

sauterelle

Heuschrecke

cavalletta

locusta

sprinkhaan

gafanhoto

langosta

🦞

llagosta

ακρίδα

saltamontes

treksprinkhaan

جرادة

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈləʊ.kəst/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: locuste

In summary

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".