Etymology

pesticide

pes·ti·cide
P3E1S1T1I1C3I1D2E1

Today it means: Anything, especially a synthetic substance but also any substance (e.g. sulfur), or virus, bacterium, or other organism, which kills or suppresses the activities of pests. Full definition →

Latin caedō ← Proto-Italic *kaidō ← Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti
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The story

  1. Englishpest
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
  4. Proto-Italic*kaidō
  5. Latincaedō
  6. English todaypesticide

From pest + -i- + -cide.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.