different between termite vs hermit

English

Etymology

From French termite, which is from Latin termites (three syllables), plural of termes.

Also possibly a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *term- (“drill”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??(?).ma?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)ma?t

Noun

termite (plural termites)

1. A white-bodied, wood-consuming insect of the infraorder Isoptera, in the order Blattodea.
   • 1802, Francis William Blagdon, Modern Discoveries; or, a Collection of facts and observations, vol. IV, page 162

     Linnæus describes this insect under the Latin name of Termes; and citizen Cuvier speaks of it under that of Termites. The vulgar call it by that of white ant, or fourmi vaguevague. The termites divide themselves into societies: each society builds itself a next, and each nest belongs to an innumerable quantity of these insects, who acknowledge for their chiefs a king and a queen.

Synonyms

• (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect): termes, white ant

Translations

Verb

termite (third-person singular simple present termites, present participle termiting, simple past and past participle termited)

1. (intransitive) Of a chimpanzee: to catch termites by inserting a stick or vine into their nest and waiting for them to climb up it.

Further reading

• termite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• emitter

French

Etymology

Back-formation from termites. From Late Latin termites (plural of termes), late variant of the Classical Latin tarmes (“woodworm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??.mit/

Noun

termite m or f (plural termites)

1. termite (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect)
   • 1798, Georges Cuvier, Tableau élémentaire de l'histoire naturelle des animaux, page 479

     Les termites parfaits ont le corps et la tête applatis horizontalement ; trois articles à tous les doigts. Leurs antennes, en forme de chapelet, les distinguent assez des autres genres de cet ordre. […]
     1. Le termite belliqueux. (Termes fatale.)
     Est l'espèce la plus grande et la plus commune. […]
     2. Le termite atroce. (Termes arda.)
     Noir, à pieds pâles, et
     3. Le termite mordant. (Termes mordax.)
     Noir, à pieds de même couleur.

Usage notes

While most dictionaries give termite has masculine, it is commonly used as a feminine noun, due to the ending -ite.

Descendants

• ? Romanian: termit?

Synonyms

• fourmi blanche

Further reading

• “termite” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From Late Latin termes, termit?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?r.mi.te/

Noun

termite f (plural termiti)

1. termite (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect)

Anagrams

• rimette, temerti

Further reading

• termite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ter.mi.te/, [?t??rm?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ter.mi.te/, [?t??rmit??]

Noun

termite m

1. ablative singular of termes

English

Alternative forms

• eremite, heremit, heremite (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English hermite, heremite, eremite, from Old French eremite, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin eremita, from Ancient Greek ???????? (er?mít?s, “person of the desert”) from ?????? (er?mía, “desert, solitude”), from ?????? (ér?mos) or ?????? (erêmos, “uninhabited”) plus -???? (-ít?s, “one connected to, a member of”). Displaced native Old English ?nsetla.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?m?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??m?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m?t
• Hyphenation: her?mit

Noun

hermit (plural hermits)

1. A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

   Synonyms: anchorite, eremite

2. A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:recluse

3. A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
4. A hermit crab.
   • 2016, Vicki Judah, Kathy Nuttall, Exotic Animal Care and Management (page 279)

     Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs.

5. A hummingbird in the subfamily Phaethornithinae.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• monachos
• monk

Anagrams

• mither