parasite English · revision 1001

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈpæɹəˌsaɪt/ ''(UK)''; /ˈpæɹəˌsaɪt/, /ˈpɛɹəˌsaɪt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|parasite]] and directly [[der|la|parasītus|t=one who lives by amusing the rich; sponger]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|παράσιτος|tr=parásitos|t=one who eats at another's table]], a noun use of an adjective meaning “feeding beside”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[af|grc|παρά|σῖτος|tr1=pará|tr2=sîtos|t1=beside|t2=grain, food]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A person who eats at the table of another, a hanger-on who frequents rich tables and earns his welcome by flattery (1539).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In ancient Greece a ''parasitos'' could be a professional dinner guest who received free meals for flattery or amusing talk.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(OED 1989) The biological sense, an animal or plant that lives on or in another organism and draws nourishment from it, appeared in English in the early 18th century (1727–41),^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995) though Etymonline finds it implied in ''parasitical'' from the 1640s.^(Etymonline) The figurative sense of a person who lives off others then took on the colouring of the biological one.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1539 – a hanger-on at rich tables.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1577–87 – ''parasitical''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1727–41 – an organism living on another.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1813 – loosely, a climbing plant.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1883 – figuratively, a person acting like a parasite.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[organism]] that lives in or on an organism of another species, its [[host]], and feeds on it without benefiting it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person who habitually takes advantage of others' generosity without making a useful return; a [[sponger]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person who lives off and flatters the rich; a [[sycophant]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(history)'' In ancient Greece, a professional dinner guest who paid with flattery or entertainment.^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[parasitically]]

+ * [[ectoparasite]]

+ * [[endoparasite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sito-]]

+ * [[parasitic]]

+ * [[sycophant]]

+ * [[leech]]

+ * [[host]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House lists ''sycophant'', ''toady'', ''leech'', ''sponge'' and ''hanger-on'' as synonyms of the human sense.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}