pesticide

Etymology

It is formed from English pest + -i- + -cide,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} on the model of insecticide.^[7][8] The first part is from French peste, from Latin pestis (“deadly contagious disease; curse, bane”), a word of uncertain origin.^[9] The second is from French -cide, from -cida (“cutter, killer”), from caedō (“to cut, strike down”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A substance for destroying pests, especially insects: 1933, in the Los Angeles Times.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1925,^[3][10] Dictionary.com to 1935–40,^[5] and Barnhart, Etymonline and the 1989 OED to 1939.^[7][9][11]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses it as a substance for destroying pests, especially the insects that infest gardens, homes or crops.^[9] The OED notes that it is occasionally used of a herbicide as well, and also figuratively.^[2][4] The adjective pesticidal followed by 1950.^[11][4]

Timeline

• 1933 – a substance for destroying pests, especially insects.^[2]
• 1950 – the adjective pesticidal.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chemical or other agent used to kill pests, especially insects and rodents: The orchard was sprayed with pesticide twice each summer.^{[12][3][13][10]}
2. Occasionally, a herbicide.^[2][4]

Word family

• pesticidal
• biopesticide

Related words

• pest
• fungicide
• germicide
• herbicide
• pestilence
• insecticide
• homicide

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
8. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin