vermicide
9.7
A medicine that kills worms, usually those living in the intestines
- noun
- /ˈvɜrmɪˌsaɪd/
- Specialized
:
vermícida
- Farmers often use a vermicide to control parasitic worms in livestock.
Examples
-
Before the surgery, the doctor administered a vermicide to eliminate any potential intestinal parasites.
-
These data are going to help bring sanitation methods and vermicide here.
Academic text (1996) -
The veterinarian prescribed a vermicide to treat the intestinal worms in the dog.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A medicine that removes worms from the intestines
specifies killing worms rather than merely removing them
9.9
A medicine that removes worms from the intestines
emphasizes killing worms instead of just expelling them
How Effective
vermicide
- Specialized
anthelminthic
- Specialized
vermifuge
- Archaic
alternative medicine
16
4.3
16
4.3
herbal therapy
- Specialized
Surface Forms
vermicide singular
vermicides plural
Morphology
vermicide = vermi + cide
The structure is fairly clear as a classical combination meaning 'worm-killing', but the bound form 'vermi-' and the suffix '-cide' are not fully transparent to average learners.
Etymology
The word vermicide comes from Latin parts vermi- meaning 'worm' and -cide meaning 'to kill', just like in pesticide and homicide. So a vermicide is a medicine or chemical used to kill worms.