arachnid
[uh-rak-nid]
- any wingless, carnivorous arthropod of the class Arachnida, including spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, and daddy-longlegs, having a body divided into two parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen, and having eight appendages and no antennae.Compare insect.
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- belonging or pertaining to the arachnids.
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Origin of arachnid
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for arachnid
Contemporary Examples
The scorpion, a Heterometrus spinifer, is completely edible, despite the arachnid being deadly if alive.
Camel in a Can and 6 More Weird Canned MeatsJanuary 5, 2014
Historical Examples
The arachnid are followed by the myriapoda (centipedes, etc.), and these by the insecti or true insects.
His comparison of the Arachnid appendages with those of insects and Crustacea is very curious.
Form and FunctionE. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
It treats of curious animals which the author considers as more nearly allied to the Insecta than to the Crustacea or Arachnid.
The characteristics of the median eyes must then be especially sought for in the arachnid group.
The Origin of VertebratesWalter Holbrook Gaskell
arachnid
- any terrestrial chelicerate arthropod of the class Arachnida, characterized by simple eyes and four pairs of legs. The group includes the spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, and harvestmen
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Word Origin
C19: from New Latin Arachnida, from Greek arakhnē spider
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for arachnid
n.
"a spider," 1869, from French arachnide (1806) or Modern Latin Arachnida, introduced as name for this class of arthropods 1815 by French biologist Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck (1744-1829), from Greek arakhne (fem.) "spider; spider's web," which probably is cognate with Latin aranea "spider, spider's web" (borrowed in Old English as renge "spider"), from aracsna. The Latin word could be a Greek borrowing or both could be from a common root. An earlier noun form was arachnidian (1828).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
arachnid
[ə-răk′nĭd]
- Any of various arthropods of the class Arachnida, such as spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. Arthropods are characterized by four pairs of segmented legs and a body that is divided into two regions, the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.