termite

noun

ter·​mite ˈtər-ˌmīt 

: any of numerous pale-colored soft-bodied social insects (order Isoptera) that live in colonies consisting usually of winged sexual forms, wingless sterile workers, and soldiers, feed on wood, and include some which are very destructive to wooden structures and trees

called also white ant

Examples of termite in a Sentence

The house has a lot of termite damage.

Recent Examples on the Web

By the year 2040, Asian termites will likely reside in all of the state’s 24 southernmost counties. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 5 Feb. 2026

Treatment for termites may include liquid termiticides, drilling into slabs, or installing bait stations. —Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 4 Feb. 2026

Meanwhile, the tiniest of the land’s inhabitants, the termite, work steadily to build up mounds of fungus and sand, the foundation of the lagoon’s precious islands. —Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Jan. 2026

Based on evidence of fungus and termites in the wood, about 70 pounds (30 kilograms) of dry deadwood was collected for the pyre, which would have taken considerable time to collect, said study coauthor Dr. Elizabeth Sawchuk, curator of human evolution at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 6 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin termit-, termes, alteration (probably by conformation to terere "to rub, grind, wear down") of Latin tarmit-, tarmes "woodworm," of uncertain origin

Note: Early instances of termites in English may represent the Latin word, from which termite is a later back-formation. Latin tarmes is apparently attested in only a single line of Plautus' Mostellaria, though it was familiar to Late Latin authors. The Roman lexicographer Sextus Pompeius Festus considered it a kind of flesh-eating maggot ("genus vermiculi carnem exedens"). The initial syllable suggests a relationship to terere "to rub, grind, wear down" (see trite), though -ar- must be of secondary origin, and the nature of the suffix is unclear.

First Known Use

1781, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing termite

• Formosan termite

Kids Definition

termite

noun

ter·​mite ˈtər-ˌmīt 

: any of a group of pale-colored soft-bodied social insects that feed on wood, live in colonies consisting of winged sexual forms, wingless sterile workers, and often soldiers, and that include some very destructive to wooden structures and trees

called also white ant