locust
Meaning
-
- 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).
- A fruit or pod of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua).
- Any of various often leguminous trees and shrubs, especially of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; locust tree.
- A cicada.
- A Mainlander.
Synonyms
Robinia
patanga
short-horned grasshopper
grass-hopper
bristly locust
moss locust
rose acacia
locustidae
a species of grasshoppers
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈləʊ.kəst/
Etymology
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".
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Notes