herbicide

C2+ Topic:Materials & Substances

US /ˈhɜːrbəˌsaɪd/ UK /ˈhɜːbɪˌsaɪd/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a chemical substance used to destroy unwanted plants

The farmer sprayed herbicide along the fence to kill the weeds.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a chemical substance used... weedkillerdefoliant

Word family

Derived forms herbicidal

Related forms herbherbalpesticideinsecticide

Etymology

A modern compound from Latin herba ('grass, herb') + the suffix -cide (from Latin caedere 'to kill, cut down').

herba Latin caedere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Materials & Substances

# herbicide

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈhɜːrbəˌsaɪd
**IPA (UK):** ˈhɜːbɪˌsaɪd

## Meanings
1. a chemical substance used to destroy unwanted plants

## Examples
- The farmer sprayed herbicide along the fence to kill the weeds.

## Synonyms
- weedkiller
- defoliant

## Derived Forms
- herbicidal

## Related Forms
- herb
- herbal
- pesticide
- insecticide

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: herba
- Root: caedere

## Etymology
A modern compound from Latin herba ('grass, herb') + the suffix -cide (from Latin caedere 'to kill, cut down').

## AI Etymology
herbicide is a modern compound from Latin herba ('grass, herb') + the suffix -cide (from Latin caedere 'to kill, cut down'). Morphologically, the word is best read through the components named in the history, with the modern spelling preserving a compound structure rather than a single unanalyzable stem. In present English, the noun sense is "a chemical substance used to destroy unwanted plants", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as herb, herbal, pesticide, and insecticide, and in derivatives such as herbicidal. Its semantic neighborhood includes weedkiller and defoliant, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin herba and Latin caedere.

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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herbicide

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