doryphore

English

Alternative forms

• doriphore

Etymology

A modification of doriphore, borrowed from French doryphore (“Colorado beetle”) by Harold Nicolson in 1952, presumably under the influence of the various senses of pest. The French term was a translation of the New Latin genus Doryphora, itself from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, “lance-bearing; lance-bearer”).

Noun

doryphore (plural doryphores)

1. (rare, humorous) A petty pedant, a person who complains about minor mistakes.
   • 1952 August 22, Harold Nicolson, Spectator, page 238:

     Often have I tried to supplement my vocabulary by inventing words, such as ‘couth’, or ‘doriphore’, or ‘hypoulic’, feeling that it is the duty as well as the pastime of a professional writer to make two words bloom where only one bloomed before.

   • 1960 December 9, Daily Telegraph, page 19:

     The idiomatic implications of such a word as doryphore in his own text is left for the ignorant to guess. (It means a Colorado beetle and, hence, a pest.)

Anagrams

• hypoorder

French

Etymology

From New Latin Doryphora (the former genus of the Colorado beetle), from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, “lance-bearing; lance-bearer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ.ʁi.fɔʁ/

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Noun

doryphore m (plural doryphores)

1. (biology) Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

Further reading

• “doryphore”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French doryphore, from New Latin Doryphora, its former genus.

Noun

doryphore m (plural doryphores)

1. (biology) Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata).