Meanings
plural biocides
- 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
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
- Ancient Greekβῐ́ος (bĭ́os)
- Ancient Greekβῐο- (bĭo-)
- Englishbio-
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
- Proto-Italic*kaidō
- Latincaedō
- Englishbiocide
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
biocide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide
“biocide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biocide,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biocide.
Source: biocide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.