Other forms: pesticides
A pesticide is a chemical sprayed to kill crop pests. Spray a pesticide, pesticide residues, ban the pesticide.
The word covers insecticides, herbicides and fungicides together, so weedkiller is a pesticide too. Residue limits are set for each crop, and washing removes surface pesticide but not what the plant took up.
1nounpesticideA chemical sprayed to kill crop pests.
“Organic apples are grown without spraying any chemical pesticides on the trees.”
pesticide is a chemical.
Latin
pestis
Middle French
peste — pestilence
English
pest
English, today
pesticide
From pest + -i- + -cide. pest In the 16th century in the sense of "pestilence" and specifically bubonic plague from Middle French peste (“pestilence”) (whence French peste). The other meanings are recorded soon after. Ultimately from Latin pestis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA