white ant
- noun
- /ˈwaɪt ænt/
- Archaic
:
termita
- The old bookshelf was infested with white ants, so we had to throw it away.
Examples
-
Scientists study the tunnels built by white ants to learn about social insect behavior.
-
In some countries, houses are protected against white ants because they can cause major structural damage.
-
The white ant damaged the wooden beams in the house.
-
Many white ants can infest a single tree.
-
The white ant causes extensive damage to homes by feeding on the wooden structures.
-
Farmers often take precautions to avoid infestations of white ants, which can ruin their crops.
-
When building a house, it's important to check for signs of white ants to prevent future problems.
Synonyms
63
2.9
A small pale insect that lives in large groups, eats wood, and damages houses
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally clear at the word level—'white' + 'ant' evokes a pale ant-like insect—so learners will infer an insect referent. However, the established meaning refers specifically to termites (which are not true ants and are wood-eating), a sense not fully predictable from the parts; the mismatch between literal constituents and the conventional referent makes the expression only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
White ant comes from people long ago who noticed pale, soft insects that looked a little like small ants living in wood. Because these insects eat wood and can harm houses, the name came to mean 'termite', an insect that damages buildings.