Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “pesticide” come from?

Pesticide derives from English pest and the suffix -y, combined with Latin -cida meaning "killer," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos.

pesticide (English): Anything, especially a synthetic substance but...

Definitions

  1. Anything, especially a synthetic substance but...

Ancestry of “pesticide”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishPest—
2HungarianPest—
3Old Church Slavonicпещь—
4Proto-Slavicpeťьoven
5Proto-Slavicpeťito bake; to get motivated, to put effort into, to...
6Proto-Balto-Slavicpekteito bake
7Proto-Indo-Europeanpékʷetito be cooking; to ripen
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpekʷ-to cook; to ripen
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₃-ép-kʷ-—

Words derived from “pesticide”

  • biopesticide
  • pesticidal
  • biopesticidal
  • antipesticide
  • nonpesticidal
  • mycopesticide
  • nonpesticide
  • pesticidally
  • pesticide
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₃-ép-kʷ- →