-cide


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-cide

(word root) kill
Examples of words with the root -cide: homicide
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

-cide

suff.
1. Killer: bactericide.
2. Act of killing: ecocide.

[Middle English, from Old French (from Latin -cīda, killer) and from Latin -cīdium, killing, both from caedere, to strike, kill; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-cide

n combining form
1. indicating a person or thing that kills: insecticide.
2. (Law) indicating a killing; murder: homicide.
[from Latin -cīda (agent), -cīdium (act), from caedere to kill]
-cidal adj combining form
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

-cide

a combining form meaning “a person or thing that kills” or “the act of killing” that specified by the initial element: homicide; pesticide.
[late Middle English < Latin -cīda killer <caedere to cut down, kill]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

-cide

A suffix that means "a killer of." It is used to form the names of chemicals that kill a specified organism, such as pesticide, a chemical that kills pests.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
These plants contain an innate "-cide," strong enough to kill insect pests but mild enough to spare the dragons.
To keep them around, avoid the use of commercially formulated "-thions," "-drins," and "-cides." These are indiscriminate killers of pests--and of beneficial dragon species.
Terms such as herbicide, insecticide, and infanticide illustrate the linguistic rule that, by adding to a noun the Latin suffix -cide, we identify the living thing killed.