Adelges

noun

Adel·​ges

ə-ˈdel-(ˌ)jēz

: a genus of aphids related to phylloxerans and feeding chiefly on spruce and balsam on which they often cause damaging and unsightly galls

adelgid

ə-ˈdel-jəd

adjective or noun

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, probably extracted from Phytadelges, proposed division of hemipteran insects, from phyt- phyto- + adelg- (perhaps erroneously for Greek amélgein "to milk, extract" + Greek -ēs, adjective suffix

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined above

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