Dictionary

termes en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɜːmiːz/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From the translingual Termes (genus name), from Late Latin termes, late variant of Classical Latin tarmes (“woodworm”).

Meanings

1. A termite.
   • The termes of South Africa is not the destructive species. 1834, Thomas Pringle, chapter VIII, in African Sketches, page 287:
   • The termes, or what is called the white ant, infests this island. 1800, The Asiatic Annual Register, page 5/2:
   • These turret nests, built by two different species of Termites. 1781, Henry Smeathman, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, LXXI, page 160:

Forms

Deriveds

termite