herbicide

Etymology

It is formed from English herb + -cide, with the connecting vowel -i-,^[2][3] the first element going back to Latin herba (“grass, green crops”).^[4][5][6] Merriam-Webster places it in the International Scientific Vocabulary, with the first element from the Latin noun.^[6][7] Webster's New World allows that the first element came through English or New Latin.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Etymonline dates the word to 1888, when it was originally a trademark name.^[2] The first quotation in the OED is from 1899, in an annual report of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station, for a proprietary weed-killer that was probably a preparation of sodium arsenite.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The OED marks that proprietary sense as obsolete; the general sense, any chemical that is toxic to plants and is used to destroy unwanted vegetation, is recorded from the same year.^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds a narrower sense, a selective weed killer that does not harm crops.^[6] The adjective herbicidal is dated by the Shorter Oxford to the mid 19th century, earlier than the noun.^[5]

Timeline

• 1888 – a trademark name for a weed-killer.^[2]
• 1899 – a proprietary weed-killer, probably of sodium arsenite (now obsolete); any chemical toxic to plants.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chemical substance used to kill plants or stop their growth, especially weeds: The farmer sprayed herbicide along the fence line.^{[9][6][10][4]}
2. Specifically, a selective weed killer that does not harm the crop it is used on.^[6]

Word family

• herbicidal
• herbicidally

Related words

• herb
• herbal
• herbivore
• pesticide
• insecticide
• fungicide

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins