cicada

American  

[si-kay-duh, -kah-] / sɪˈkeɪ də, -ˈkɑ- /

noun

• cicadas,
  plural
• cicadae
  plural

1. any large homopterous insect of the family Cicadidae, the male of which produces a shrill sound by means of vibrating membranes on the underside of the abdomen.

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cicada British  

/ sɪˈkɑːdə /

noun

1. any large broad insect of the homopterous family Cicadidae, most common in warm regions. Cicadas have membranous wings and the males produce a high-pitched drone by vibration of a pair of drumlike abdominal organs

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cicadae
  plural
• cicadas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cicada

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin cicāda

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Explanation

A cicada is a large, winged insect that makes a distinctive vibrating sound. You might hear hundreds of male cicadas singing loudly on a summer night. Cicadas are often confused with locusts, which are a similar size, a little under two inches long, but are unrelated to cicadas. Depending on the species, cicadas live underground for anywhere from two to seventeen years before emerging for a few weeks of adulthood. Beyond their loud summer buzz, cicadas have a deep cultural history: Their discarded shells are a staple in traditional Chinese medicine, and they’ve been a popular food source from ancient Greece to modern-day Appalachia, where locals affectionately call them "jarflies."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cicada cicadae cicadas

“When the cicada surges escalate to a point where it starts to significantly disrupt home life across a neighborhood, we had to act decisively,” said Choo, who represents the hardest-hit area in Singapore’s parliament.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

Look, for instance, for a conductor with a clock as a face, dancing luggage and a cicada jug band, among a host of other oddities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026

In Costa Rica, a rufous-vented ground cuckoo snatches a cicada fleeing an army ant swarm.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Then there was the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a winner for “Appropriate,” rocking a cicada brooch tie, a nod to one of the production’s creepy-crawly motifs.

From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024

The harsh cicada seemed to take up its melody, and the twittering tree frogs called little phrases of it.

From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

Yet perhaps with sunflowers and cicadae, summer and winter, cattle, wife and family, the settler may create a full and various existence.

From Across the Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson

It was in the month of August; and the whole countryside was ringing with the song of the cicadae.

From Fabre, Poet of Science by Bernard Miall

How delightful is the breeze:—so very sweet; and there is a sound in the air shrill and summerlike which makes answer to the chorus of the cicadae.

From Phaedrus by Benjamin Jowett

Wherever it appeared, moreover, the red-eyed cicadae were in abundance.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits To the Islands in the Arafura Sea by John Lort Stokes

Suddenly the jungle was stilled, even from the voice of the rasping cicadae; the leaves had ceased to whisper, for the wind had hushed.

From Caste by William Alexander Fraser

There was the chirping of cicadas and the crunch of desiccated pine needles underfoot, but the most remarkable thing about the place was the quiet.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

This year he’s taken on another fight: Defending constituents against swarms of cicadas never before seen here.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

"We are now able to look forward to a time when we can once again walk through the New Forest in summer and hear hundreds of cicadas singing their hearts out."

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Some individuals compare the noise to cicadas or even a passing freight train, Price said.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026

Had a sudden army of cicadas arrived already?

From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen

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