pesticide

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English pest Latin -i-bor. English -i- Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-der. Proto-Italic *kaidō Latin caedō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ Proto-Italic *-ā Latin -a Latin -cīdader. Middle French -cidebor. English -cide English pesticide From pest + -i- + -cide.

1. Anything, especially a synthetic substance but also any substance (e.g. sulfur), or virus, bacterium, or other organism, which kills or suppresses the activities of pests.

   ““Twelve pesticides commonly applied to citrus groves are slated for study in the project’s plots,” reports Tom S. Bellows, UC Riverside assistant entomologist. They include four acaricides (Morestan, Kelthane, Pictran, Vendex), four thripsicides (Cygon, Carzol, Orthene, Sabadilla), and four scalicides (Parathion, Supracide, Lorsban, Sevin).”

   “Too much pesticide was applied and then washed from the fields by rains and surface runoff.”