terebrant

Meanings

1. Of an insect: that bores (“makes holes”); specifically, belonging to the Terebrantia suborder of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.
2. Of pain: resembling the sensation of being bored into or pierced.

1. An insect that bores (“makes holes”); a borer; specifically, one belonging to the Terebrantia suborder of thrips which bore using their ovipositors.

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin terebrantem, the accusative masculine or feminine singular of terebrāns, the present active participle of terebrō (“to bore through, perforate, pierce”), from terebra (“instrument for boring, borer, gimlet”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Terebra is derived from ter(ō) (“to rub; to wear away”) (from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn”)) + -bra (suffix denoting an instrument, forming nouns). The noun is either derived from the adjective, or is a back-formation from Terebrantia (“suborder of thrips”).