entomology
[en-tuh-mol-uh-jee]
- the branch of zoology dealing with insects.
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Origin of entomology
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for entomologist
Contemporary Examples
We talked to entomologist Louis Sorkin about the best ways to prepare the little protein nuggets.
Historical Examples
These were Bruguière the conchologist and Olivier the entomologist.
Lamarck, the Founder of EvolutionAlpheus Spring Packard
He stopped the doctor reverentially, and said he had heard he was an entomologist.
White LiesCharles Reade
This certainly is a good field for work for the entomologist.
He puffed at a pipe, and regarded the entomologist with a smile.
The Raid on the TermitesPaul Ernst
The entomologist had got almost up to the twelve-foot jaws that closed the exit.
The Raid on the TermitesPaul Ernst
entomology
- the branch of science concerned with the study of insects
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for entomologist
n.
1771; see entomology + -ist.
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entomology
n.
1766, from French entomologie (1764), coined from Greek entomon "insect" + -logia "study of" (see -logy). Entomon is neuter of entomos "having a notch or cut (at the waist)," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + temnein "to cut" (see tome).
So called by Aristotle in reference to the segmented division of insect bodies. Compare insect. Related: Entomological. Hybrid insectology (1766, from French insectologie, 1744) is not much used.
I have given the name insectology to that part of natural history which has insects for its object; that of entomology ... would undoubtedly have been more suitable ... but its barbarous sound terryfy'd me. [Charles Bonnet's English translation of his "Contemplation de la nature," 1766]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
entomology
(ĕn′tə-mŏl′ə-jē)- The study of insects.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
entomology
[ĕn′tə-mŏl′ə-jē]
- The scientific study of insects.
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Word History: Scientists who study insects (there are close to a million that can be studied!) are called entomologists. Why are they not called insectologists? Well, in a way they are. The word insect comes from the Latin word insectum, meaning cut up or divided into segments. (The plural of insectum, namely insecta, is used by scientists as the name of the taxonomic class that insects belong to.) This Latin word was created in order to translate the Greek word for insect, which is entomon. This Greek word also literally means cut up or divided into segments, and it is the source of the word entomology. The Greeks had coined this term for insects because of the clear division of insect bodies into three segments, now called the head, thorax, and abdomen.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.