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Glite Dictionary
wood tick

wood tick

1 6.4
A small animal that bites people and animals in woods and can spread disease
  • noun
  • /wʊd tɪk/
  • US
translation icon : garrapata de madera
  • After camping in the forest, it's important to check for wood ticks that can carry harmful diseases.
  • Rocky Mountain wood ticks
  • Mountain wood ticks

Examples

  • The other men slapped their faces at random, scratched at wood ticks crawling into their moccasins.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • PHOTO: Rocky Mountain wood ticks feed on an "artificial cowhide" made from intestinal tissue covered with hair, feces, and skin secretions.

    Academic text (1994)

  • While hiking in the woods, I found a wood tick on my leg that I promptly removed.

  • She noticed a wood tick on her dog's fur and carefully took it off to prevent any illness.

Synonyms

American dog tick
vswood tick
  • US
7.0

A common tick in North America that can spread diseases like Rocky Mountain spotted fever

is the general common term for similar disease-carrying ticks on animals and humans
Dermacentor variabilis
vswood tick
  • Specialized
9.9

A small tick in North America that bites dogs and people and can spread serious diseases

is the nontechnical term used for comparable ticks found on people and animals

Surface Forms

wood tick singular
wood ticks plural

Morphology

wood + tick

The noun compound 'wood tick' is directly compositional: 'wood' (wooded area) + 'tick' (parasitic arachnid) yields a tick associated with woods or wooded habitats. This straightforward habitat + creature pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The name wood tick comes from the simple idea that these ticks live in the wood and cling to animals or people who pass by. So, the name helps you remember that a wood tick is a small biting bug found in woods that can 'spread disease' if it stays on you.