English

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a great green bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima), a species of katydid

Etymology

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Onomatopoeic, from the sound a common true katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia) makes by stridulating.[1]

  • katydid song:(file)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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katydid (plural katydids)

  1. A relative of grasshoppers and crickets, in the family Tettigoniidae.
    Synonym: (UK) bush-cricket
    • 1889, Charles Conrad Abbott, Days Out of Doors, New York: D. Appleton and Company, page 194:
      I have noticed all these, and some at a much earlier date than the first faint lisping of a timid katydid; and all such sights and sounds are similarly suggestive—the summer is drawing to its close.
    • 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 52:
      In the night the katydids and crickets screeched in waves, soft then loud, back and forth.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “katydid”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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