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The seven plagues of California’s piers are fire, ocean storms, fire, old age, civic budgets, ship worms called teredos, and fire.—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2024 The warm waters of the Caribbean are paradise for teredo worms, which are actually mollusks with a voracious appetite for wood.—Kristin Romey, National Geographic, 6 Oct. 2017
Word History
Etymology
Middle English terredo "woodworm," borrowed from Latin terēdin-, terēdō "shipworm," borrowed from Greek terēdon-, terēdṓn "woodworm," from terē- (base of teírein "to wear down, exhaust," téretron "auger") + -don-, -dōn, suffix of animal names — more at trite
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