Cercopid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small leaping insect belonging to the family Cercopidae, whose nymphs produce frothy spittle masses on plants
2. Any of the small plant-feeding bugs in the family Cercopidae, known for their powerful jumps and foamy nymphal shelters
3. A sap-sucking true bug of the Cercopidae family, commonly called a froghopper or spittlebug, that leaps strongly

Etymology: Cercopids are small insects, the froghoppers and spittlebugs, and the name comes from the family Cercopidae, which was built on a Greek root. The Greek "kerkos" meant "tail", and the family name refers to the tail-like shape of the insects' abdomen or the bristle-like structure at its end. Scientists took the name as a ready-made label for the group, so the word is a technical coinage from Greek material rather than a term that circulated in ancient speech. Modern English took the word directly from the scientific Latin of taxonomy. Once naturalists had grouped these leaping insects into a family, the family name became the everyday word for its members. Its use is confined almost entirely to entomology, where it marks a specific, well-defined group of sap-feeding bugs.