biocide

bio·cide
B3I1O1C3I1D2E1
UK/ˈbaɪəʊsaɪd/US/ˈbaɪoʊsaɪd/

noun

Any action or substance that can destroy living organisms.

UncommonScrabble 12

Meanings

nounbiocide (countable and uncountable, plural biocides)

plural biocides

  1. countableuncountableAny action or substance that can destroy living organisms.
    1 more example

    [T]here is the inability of the Christian world to respond in any effective way to the destruction of the planet. […] There is this terrible lack of concern for biocide or geocide. We have no moral principles to deal with them. […] Somehow, when I was quite young, I saw the beginning of biocide and geocide.

    1991, Thomas Berry; Thomas Clarke; Stephen Dunn and Anne Lonergan, editors, Befriending the Earth: A Theology of Reconciliation between Humans and the Earth, Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, ISBN 978-0-89622-471-1; quoted in Cristina Vanin, “Attaining Harmony with the Earth”, in John C. Haughey, editor, In Search of the Whole: Twelve Essays on Faith and Academic Life, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-58901-781-8, page 184

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
  2. Ancient Greekβῐ́ος (bĭ́os)
  3. Ancient Greekβῐο- (bĭo-)
  4. Englishbio-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
  7. Proto-Italic*kaidō
  8. Latincaedō
  9. Englishbiocide

From bio- + -cide.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan biocida
  • biocidaany substance that can destroy living organisms
Dutch biocide
  • biocideany substance that can destroy living organisms
Finnish biosidi
  • biosidiany substance that can destroy living organisms
French biocide
  • biocideany substance that can destroy living organisms
German Biozid
  • Biozidany substance that can destroy living organisms
Irish bithicíd
  • bithicídany substance that can destroy living organisms
Polish biocyd
  • biocydany substance that can destroy living organisms
Portuguese biocida
  • biocidaany substance that can destroy living organisms
Spanish biocida
  • biocidaany substance that can destroy living organisms
Cite this entry
APA

biocide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide

MLA

“biocide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biocide,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide.

Source: biocide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.