blackbeetle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: the Oriental cockroach, a large dark-brown or blackish cockroach

   The neglected cellar was infested with blackbeetles that emerged after dark.

A compound of black + beetle, recorded as a popular British name for the dark Oriental cockroach. Despite the traditional name, a blackbeetle is a cockroach rather than a true beetle; the label reflects its glossy dark body and the broad everyday use of beetle for crawling household insects.

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