🐟 A tropical fish 🐛 A grass-eating larva

leatherjacket

9.9

A tough-skinned young insect of crane flies that lives in soil and eats grass roots

noun
/ˈlɛðərˌdʒækɪt/

: larva de mosquito

The gardener was concerned about the high number of leatherjackets damaging his lawn.

Examples

Leatherjacket infestations can cause patches of dead grass in the spring.
Many birds feed on leatherjackets as an important part of their diet.
The gardener found a leatherjacket in the soil.
Many leatherjackets can harm grass roots.
Leatherjacket infestations can cause patches of dead grass in the spring.
The gardener was concerned about the high number of leatherjackets damaging his lawn.
Many leatherjackets can harm grass roots.

Surface Forms

leatherjacket singular

leatherjackets plural

Morphology

leatherjacket = leather + jacket (opaque) = leather + jacket

The word is a compound of 'leather' and 'jacket', but the specific meaning of a crane fly larva is not directly derivable from the components.

Etymology

Leatherjacket comes from the familiar words leather and jacket. The young form of some flies has hard, leather-like skin and looks as if it is wearing a 'leather jacket', so gardeners use this name for that tough, root-eating larva.