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

Similarly, termites, which are a kind of cockroach, break down old trees and are vital to tropical forest health. —Madeline Bodin, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2025

One type of subterranean termite worth noting is the Formosan termite (Coptotermes formosanus). —Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 27 June 2025

So ants’ and termites’ styles of social living evolved independently, and their solutions to the waste problem are quite different. —Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2025

Other Insects That Use Toilets Ants may have toilets, but termites have even wilder ways of dealing with their wastes. —Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2025

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