arachnid

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈɹæknɪd/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is from New Latin Arachnida, the name of the class, introduced by Lamarck,^[2][3][4][5] perhaps through the influence of French arachnide (1806).^[3][4] This is from Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider; spider's web”).^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline notes that the Greek word is probably related to Latin aranea “spider”, and that Beekes takes both to be borrowings from an unknown source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Etymonline records it in 1854 in the sense “a spider”;^[4] Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and the OED date the zoological sense, a member of the class Arachnida, to 1869.^[3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Lamarck introduced Arachnida as a class name in 1815.^[4] Earlier English nouns were arachnidian (1828) and arachnidan (1843).^[4]

Timeline

• 1806 – French arachnide.^[3][4]
• 1815 – Lamarck's class Arachnida.^[4]
• 1854 – “a spider” (Etymonline).^[4]
• 1869 – a member of the Arachnida.^[3][6][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of a class of arthropods, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks, with four pairs of legs, no antennae, and a body in two parts.

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the arachnids.

Word family

• arachnidan

Related words

• arachnophobia
• Arachne

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press