terebrant.
Of an insect: that bores holes; specifically, of the suborder Terebrantia of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.
Meaning & usage
Of an insect: that bores holes; specifically, of the suborder Terebrantia of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.
Of pain: resembling the sensation of being bored into or pierced.
Where this word comes from
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin terebrantem, the accusative masculine or feminine singular of terebrāns, the present active participle of terebrō (“to bore through, perforate, pierce”), from terebra (“instrument for boring, borer, gimlet”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Terebra is derived from ter(ō) (“to rub; to wear away”) (from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn”)) + -bra (suffix denoting an instrument, forming nouns). The noun is either derived from the adjective, or is a back-formation from Terebrantia (“suborder of thrips”).
An insect that bores (“makes holes”); a borer; specifically, one belonging to the Terebrantia suborder of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.
Where this word comes from
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin terebrantem, the accusative masculine or feminine singular of terebrāns, the present active participle of terebrō (“to bore through, perforate, pierce”), from terebra (“instrument for boring, borer, gimlet”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Terebra is derived from ter(ō) (“to rub; to wear away”) (from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn”)) + -bra (suffix denoting an instrument, forming nouns). The noun is either derived from the adjective, or is a back-formation from Terebrantia (“suborder of thrips”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.