Meanings
plural planthoppers
- Any of many insects, of superfamily Fulgoroidea, that bear a remarkable resemblance to leaves and are capable of prodigious leaps.
Planthoppers begin life as eggs deposited in fissures on the surface of their host plant or even beneath the bark.
2011, Ross Piper, Pests: A Guide to the World's Most Maligned, Yet Misunderstood Creatures, page 1302 more examples
1997, Rosamond L. Naylor, Paul R. Ehrlich, Chapter 9: Natural Pest Control Services and Agriculture, Gretchen Daily (editor), Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems, page 156, Cumulative losses from the brown planthopper have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars (Denno and Perfect 1994) and accounted in 1990 for some 6 percent of the total value foregone from all biotic and abiotic factors that reduce rice production (Herdt 1991).
The sap-feeding planthoppers (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) are ubiquitous in virtually all Hawaiian terrestrial ecosystems.
2000, E. M. Craddock, “1: Speciatio Processes in the Adaptive Radiation of Hawaiian Plants and Animals”, in Max K. Hecht, Ross J. MacIntyre, Michael T. Clegg, editors, Evolutionary Biology, volume 31, page 20
Synonyms & antonyms
nounrelated to the leafhoppers and spittlebugs but rarely damages cultivated plants
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pleth₂-?
- Proto-Indo-European*pel-?
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂
- Proto-Italic*plāntā?
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₂k-
- Proto-Indo-European*pl̥h₂nk /*gteh₂
- Proto-Italic*plānktā
- Latinplanta
- Proto-West Germanic*plantu
- Old Englishplante
- Middle Englishplante
- Englishplant
- Proto-Germanic*huppōną
- Proto-West Germanic*huppōn
- Old Englishhoppian
- Old English*hoppa
- Middle English*hoppe
- Middle Englishhoppere
- Englishhopper
- Englishplanthopper
Translations
German Spitzkopfzikade
- Spitzkopfzikadea type of insect
Māori kiritaitea
- kiritaiteaa type of insect
Cite this entry
planthopper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper
“planthopper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “planthopper,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper.
Source: planthopper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.