planthopper

P3L1A1N1T1H4O1P3P3E1R1

noun

Any of many insects, of superfamily Fulgoroidea, that bear a remarkable resemblance to leaves and are capable of prodigious leaps.

Similar
plant hopper
Scrabble 20

Meanings

nounplanthopper (plural planthoppers)

plural planthoppers

  1. 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 130
    2 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

Similar
plant hopper
Broader
homopterous insecthomopteran

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleth₂-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pel-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₂-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂
  5. Proto-Italic*plāntā?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₂k-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*pl̥h₂nk /*gteh₂
  8. Proto-Italic*plānktā
  9. Latinplanta
  10. Proto-West Germanic*plantu
  11. Old Englishplante
  12. Middle Englishplante
  13. Englishplant
  14. Proto-Germanic*huppōną
  15. Proto-West Germanic*huppōn
  16. Old Englishhoppian
  17. Old English*hoppa
  18. Middle English*hoppe
  19. Middle Englishhoppere
  20. Englishhopper
  21. Englishplanthopper

From plant + hopper.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Spitzkopfzikade
  • Spitzkopfzikadea type of insect
Māori kiritaitea
  • kiritaiteaa type of insect
Cite this entry
APA

planthopper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper

MLA

“planthopper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “planthopper,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/planthopper.

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