parasitic

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin parasīticus (“of or characteristic of a parasite”),^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek παρασιτικός (parasitikós),^[2][3][4] from παράσιτος (parásitos, “one who eats at another's table”), the source of parasite, with the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[2][5][6] The Greek noun is formed from παρά (pará, “beside”) and σῖτος (sîtos, “food, grain”).^[2][3] The OED compares Middle French parasitique, recorded from about 1500, and the earlier English parasitical.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or like a parasite, a person who lives at another's expense; sycophantic: 1630, in George Hakewill's Apologie.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first described human hangers-on, as did parasitical, recorded from the 1570s of toadies.^[3][2] The biological sense, living on another organism, followed in 1731, in Philip Miller's Gardeners Dictionary,^[2][3] after parasite itself had been applied to plants and animals from the 1640s.^[3] From 1842 it was used of diseases caused by parasites,^[2] and since 1844 of climbing plants that rely on another for support.^[2] In the 19th and 20th centuries it took on technical senses: in linguistics, from 1870, of a sound or letter that has developed in a word without being there originally,^[2] and in electronics, from 1889, of unwanted currents or effects that arise as by-products,^[2] with parasitics for parasitic oscillations from 1943.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1630 – of a human parasite; sycophantic.^[2][3]
• 1731 – biology, living as a parasite on an organism.^[2][3]
• 1800 – noun, a parasitic plant or fungus.^[2]
• 1842 – of a disease, caused by parasites.^[2]
• 1870 – linguistics, of a sound or letter added to a word.^[2]
• 1889 – of unwanted electrical effects.^[2]
• 1943 – noun, in the plural, parasitic oscillations.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or like a parasite; living on or in another organism and taking its food from it: parasitic worms.^[7][2][5]
2. Caused by parasites: a parasitic infection.^[7][2]
3. Living off others while giving little in return; sycophantic.^[5][2]
4. (linguistics) Of a sound or letter: not originally part of a word but developed in it, like the b in thimble.^[2][5]
5. (electronics) Of currents, oscillations or other effects: occurring as unwanted by-products of a circuit or device.^[2][5]

Noun

1. (electronics) A parasitic current or oscillation.^[5][2]

Word family

• parasitically
• parasiticalness
• nonparasitic
• antiparasitic
• semiparasitic
• unparasitic

Related words

• parasite
• parasitical
• parasitism

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt