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Origin and history of pesticide

pesticide(n.)

"substance for destroying pests, especially insects infesting gardens, homes, or crops," 1939, from English pest + Latinate -cide "killer."

Entries linking to pesticide

1550s (in imprecations, "a pest upon ____," etc.), "plague, pestilence, epidemic disease," from French peste (1530s), from Latin pestis "deadly contagious disease; a curse, bane," a word of uncertain origin. Meaning "any noxious, destructive, or troublesome person or thing" is attested by c. 1600. Pest-house "hospital for persons suffering from infectious diseases" is from 1610s.

word-forming element meaning "killer," from French -cide, from Latin -cida "cutter, killer, slayer," from -cidere, combining form of caedere "to fall, fall down, fall away, decay, fall dead" (from Proto-Italic *kaid-o-, from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike"). For the Latin vowel change, compare acquisition.

The element also can represent "killing," from French -cide, from Latin -cidium "a cutting, a killing." But it has a classical literal sense in stillicide.

*kaə-id-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to strike."

It might form all or part of: abscise; avicide; biocide; caesarian; caesura; cement; chisel; -cide; circumcise; circumcision; concise; decide; decision; deicide; excise (v.); excision; felicide; feticide; filicide; floricide; fratricide; fungicide; gallinicide; genocide; germicide; herbicide; homicide; incise; incision; incisor; infanticide; insecticide; legicide; liberticide; libricide; matricide; parricide; patricide; pesticide; precise; precision; prolicide; scissors; senicide; spermicide; suicide; uxoricide; verbicide.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit skhidati "beats, tears;" Latin caedere "to strike down, fell, slay;" Lithuanian kaišti "shave;" Armenian xait'em "to stab;" Albanian qeth "to shave;" Middle Dutch heien "to drive piles," Old High German heia "wooden hammer," German heien "beat."

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