abeille

→ Esperanto: abelo

Ido: abelo

Inherited from Middle French abeille, from Old Occitan abelha, from Latin apicula, diminutive of apis (whence the Old French ef).

Je me suis fait piquer par une abeille

Alors, contentez-vous du travail comme la fourmi, et du miel comme l’abeille.

So be happy with work, like the ant, and honey, like the bee.

Chaque ruche, en ce début d’automne, abrite quelque 15 000 abeilles, le «pic» de 50 000 étant atteint vers juillet, la reine pouvant pondre jusqu’à 1500 oeufs par jour.

2012 September 10, Anne-Marie Duquette, L'Action:

Each hive, at the start of autumn, houses some 15,000 bees, with a peak of 50,000 reached by July, the queen laying up to 1,500 eggs per day.


scorpion

→ Romanian: scorpion


pou

Inherited from Old French pouil, peouil, püil, from Late Latin peduclus < peduculus, variant of Latin pēdīculus, from pēdis, from Proto-Indo-European *pezd-. The singular is a back-formation from the plural (see also genou with the same development).

Pediculus humanus capitis
Pediculus humanus capitis#Translingual

louse; head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis)


fiancée

→ English: fiancée

→ Japanese: フィアンセ (fianse)


moustique

Borrowed from Spanish mosquito, diminutive of mosca, from Latin musca, whence also the French doublet mouche (“a fly”). The metathesis of /k/ and /t/ might have been due to influence of tique (“a tick”).


grisette

→ English: grisette, grizette

→ German: Grisette

skipper (butterfly in the family Hesperiidae)


fourmi

Inherited from Old French furmi, from a Vulgar Latin *formīcus, from Latin formīca (cf. also the feminine Old French formie).

Une fourmi m’a piqué.


termite

→ Romanian: termită

Back-formation from termites. From Late Latin termites (plural of termes), late variant of the Classical Latin tarmes (“woodworm”).

Les termites parfaits ont le corps et la tête applatis horizontalement ; trois articles à tous les doigts. Leurs antennes, en forme de chapelet, les distinguent assez des autres genres de cet ordre. […]
1. Le termite belliqueux. (Termes fatale.)
Est l’espèce la plus grande et la plus commune. […]
2. Le termite atroce. (Termes arda.)
Noir, à pieds pâles, et
3. Le termite mordant. (Termes mordax.)
Noir, à pieds de même couleur.

1798, Georges Cuvier, Tableau élémentaire de l'histoire naturelle des animaux, page 479:

termite (white-bodied, wood-consuming insect)


araignée

Inherited from Old French areignee, extended form of araigne, from Latin arānea. Equivalent to now archaic ara(i)gne + -ée.


éphémère

Inherited from Old French effimere, borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros).


ricin

Ixodes ricinus
Ixodes ricinus#Translingual


cafard

fr-noun

cafard m (plural cafards, feminine cafarde)

Francized form of Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “unbeliever”).


chenille

→ Catalan: xenilla

→ English: chenille

→ Italian: ciniglia

→ Romanian: șenilă

→ Russian: шине́ль (šinélʹ), шени́лл (šeníll)

Inherited from Latin canīcula (“little dog”) (because of a caterpillar's head). Doublet of canicule.


bourdon

Inherited from Middle French bourdon (“honeybee, bumblebee”), from Old French bordon (“bumblebee, drone, beetle, insect”), from Medieval Latin burdō (c. C.E. 1000), first recorded in the Homilies of King Ælfric, glossed by Old English dora (“bumblebee”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Frankish *boʀdō, *buʀdō (“beetle, insect”), from Proto-Germanic *buzdô (“beetle, grub”, literally “swelling”), from *būs- (“to erupt, burst, flow rapidly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūs- (“to move quickly”), related to Old English budda (“beetle”), Middle Low German buddech (“thick, swollen”), Low German budde (“louse, grub”). See bug.

der

c. <small class='ce-date'>C.E.</small> 1000

cog

Je me souviens qu’il écrivait ça à un de ses copains qui avait le bourdon et qui voulait voyager. L’autre lui disait grosso modo que c’était pas la peine étant donné qu’il allait se trimballer son paquet d’emmerdements avec lui.

1999, Anna Gavalda, “Permission”, in Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, →ISBN:

I remember he wrote that to one of his friends who was down in the dumps and wanted to go travelling. He basically told him that there was no point since he'd just be taking all his problems with him.

(figurative, colloquial) blues (feeling of sadness)


crevette

desc

→ Belarusian: крэветка (krevjetka), крэвэтка (krevetka)

→ Czech: kreveta

→ English: crevette

→ Estonian: krevett

→ German: Krevette

→ Latvian: krevete

→ Lithuanian: krevetė

→ Polish: krewetka

→ Romanian: crevetă

desctree

→ Russian: креве́тка (krevétka)
→ Chechen: креветка (krevetka)
→ Kazakh: креветка (krevetka)
→ Kyrgyz: креветка (krevetka)
→ Turkmen: krewetka
→ Uzbek: krevetka

→ Serbo-Croatian: кревѐта

→ Slovak: kreveta

→ Ukrainian: креве́тка (krevétka)

→ Romanian: crevetă

Borrowed from Norman crevette, attested in 1532, from earlier cravette, crabette. These are diminutives of crabe (“crab”), but may be influenced by a word going back to Frankish *krebit (“crayfish”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz, possibly via Middle Dutch crevet (“crayfish”), from Old Dutch *krevit. Compare also écrevisse, Old Saxon krevit, Old High German krebiz. More at crayfish.
The word crevette was associated with phonetically similar Norman kevrette (“young goat”), which led to the French equivalent chevrette being occasionally used in the sense of “shrimp”. This is, in all likelihood, a secondary confusion rather than the actual origin of crevette, as supposed in some of the literature.


faune

From Middle French faune, from Latin Faunus.

Hipparchia statilinus
Wikispecies:Hipparchia statilinus

tree grayling (butterfly Hipparchia statilinus)


taon

Inherited from Old French täun, tahon, toon, from Vulgar Latin *tabōnem, from Latin tabānus (“gadfly, horsefly”). Compare Norman taon, Franco-Provençal tôna, Romanian tăun.


gendarme

→ English: gendarme

→ Franco-Provençal: g·endârme

→ Italian: gendarme

→ Ottoman Turkish: ژاندارمه (jandarma)
Turkish: jandarma
→ Armenian: ժանտարմա (žantarma)
→ Laz: ჯანდამა (candama)

→ Romanian: jandarm

→ Russian: жандарм (žandarm)
→ Armenian: ժանդարմ (žandarm)
→ Georgian: ჟანდარმი (žandarmi)
→ Uyghur: ژاندارما (zhandarma)

→ Persian: ژاندرم (žândarm)

Singular extracted from plural gendarmes, which arose as a re-spelling of gens d’armes (“people of arms", "armed people”).

a member of the gendarmerie, a military body charged with police duties


crabe

From a Norman dialect (compare Jèrriais crabe), partly from Old Norse krabbi and partly from Middle Dutch crabbe, both from Proto-Germanic *krabbô. Cognate with Old English crabba (“crab; crayfish”). More at crab.


papillon

→ Greek: παπιγιόν (papigión)

→ Romanian: papion

→ Turkish: papyon

From Old French papeillon (12th c.), byform of paveillon, whence the modern doublet pavillon (“pavilion”). Both from Latin pāpiliōnem. The form with recovered -p- may be semi-learned, but has also been explained as a native development due to onomatopoeia. Another possibility would be influence by a hypothetical Old French *parpeillon, from Vulgar Latin *parpiliōnem (cf. Occitan parpalhon). The swimming sense is a semantic loan from English.


frelon

From Frankish *hurslo, adapted to forsleone in the Glosses of Reichenau.

frelon européen

frelon asiatique


mouche

→ English: mouche

→ Portuguese: muche

→ Swedish: musch

→ Turkish: muş

Inherited from Middle French mousche, from Old French mousche, musche, from Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

on n’attrape pas des mouches avec du vinaigre

soul patch, mouche (narrow beard descending from lower lip)


scarabée

Inherited from Middle French scarabée, borrowed from Latin scarabaeus, from Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos). Compare the inherited doublet escarbot.


homard

→ Hawaiian: ʻōmā

→ Hungarian: homár

→ Polish: homar

→ Romanian: homar

→ Russian: ома́р (omár) (see there for further descendants)

From an earlier form houmar, from Middle Low German hummer, from Old Norse humarr (“lobster”). The form homard was probably influenced by Dutch hommer.

[…] dans les écrevisses & dans les homards, les dents ne sont placées que dans la cavité même de l’estomac […]

1758, Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, traduite du Biblia Naturae de Jean Swammerdam, Collection Académique, composée des mémoires, actes ou journaux […], volume 5 of the series (2 of the subseries), Article III, page 447

[…] in crayfish and lobsters, the teeth are located only inside the stomach cavity […]


coccinelle

Adaptation of Scientific Latin Coccinella, formed based on coccinus, from coccum.


sauterelle

⇒ Catalan: santanell

→ English: sauterelle

C’est elle la sauterelle / La sirène en mal d’amour / Le danseur dans la flanelle / Ou le carton

1984, “Marcia Baïla”, in Rita Mitsouko, performed by Les Rita Mitsouko:

She is the grasshopper / The lovelorn mermaid / The dancer in the flannel / Or the cardboard


larve

→ Romanian: larvă


candide

mountain clouded yellow
mountain clouded yellow

a mountain clouded yellow (Colias phicomone), a butterfly of Europe


cancrelat

Borrowed from Dutch kakkerlak, under the influence of cancre.


taupe-grillon

fr-noun

taupe-grillon m (plural taupes-grillons)


langoustine

any of a number of crustaceans, especially the Norway lobster


crustacé

From translingual Crustacea + -é, ultimately from Latin crusta (“crust”).


libellule

→ Romanian: libelulă

Borrowed from scientific Latin libellula, from Latin libella.

dragonfly (an insect of the suborder Anisoptera)


grillon

From a crossing of gresillon and Middle French or Old French grillet (with numerous variations in French dialects; see grelet, see also grelot), probably a derivative of an early root grill- (compare Occitan grilh, Catalan grill), from Vulgar Latin *grīll(i)us, from Latin gryllus, probably from Ancient Greek γρύλλος (grúllos).

(cooking) culinary specialty of the West of France, made with pieces of pork fried in fat and served cold (also sometimes denotes rillettes with fatty pieces)


criquet

Inherited from Middle French criquet, from Old French criket, from Old French criquer (“to crack, creak”), of Germanic origin. Compare Dutch kriek, krekel (“cricket”), English creak.


arachnide

→ English: arachnid

From Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē) + -ide.


doryphore

From New Latin Doryphora (the former genus of the Colorado beetle), from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, “lance-bearing; lance-bearer”).

der

Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Leptinotarsa decemlineata#Translingual

(biology) Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)


cerf-volant

Possibly from Old French serpe (“serpent, dragon”) + volant (“flying”), converging with cerf-volant due to the similar pronunciation and appearance.

af

Old French <i class="Latn mention" lang="fro">serpe</i>


punaise

→ English: punese

→ Ottoman Turkish: پونز (pünez)

Turkish: pünez

→ Persian: پونز (punez)

→⇒ Polish: pinezka

→ Romanian: piuneză

From the feminine of punais (“having a foul odor”), from Vulgar Latin *pūtināsius, from Latin puteō + nāsus, based on nāriputēns.

(entomology) bug, stinkbug; true bug (a member of order Heteroptera)


gazé

fr-noun

gazé m (countable and uncountable, plural gazés)

(countable) black-veined white butterfly (Aporia crataegi)


faux-bourdon

a musical style in which a countermelody sung above the melody and another sung below create the impression of a bass that isn't really there


cerque

From New Latin cercus, from Ancient Greek κέρκος (kérkos, “tail”).


perce-oreille

perce-oreille m (plural perce-oreilles or perce-oreille)

perce-oreilles (plural)
perce-oreille (plural)

From perce (“pierces”) + oreille (“ear”).


luciole

Envoie toutes sortes de messages / Aux inconnus et lucioles de passage

1975, Yves Simon (lyrics and music), “Raconte-toi”:

Send all sorts of messages / To passing strangers and fireflies


bernard-l'ermite

bernard-l’ermite m (plural bernard-l’ermite)

bernard-l’ermite (canonical masculine)
bernard-l’ermite (plural)

Borrowed from Occitan bernat l'ermito (literally “Bernard the hermit”), probably named after Bernard of Clairvaux.

bor+

1896, Revue des Deux Mondes, volume 134, “Une correspondance inédite de Prosper Mérimée”, part 3, p. 572

Do you know, Madame, what a hermit crab is? It is a very small crab, three centimeters large at most, whose tail is devoid of scales.

Savez-vous, madame, ce que c’est qu’un Bernard-l’Ermite ? c’est une langouste très petite, de trois centimètres au plus, dont la queue est dépourvue d’écailles.

1932, Franc-Nohain, Guide du bon sens, chapter 7 “Le bon sens et la fraternité”, p. 145

There is an example that haunts me, and to which I return most willingly, because I deem it worthy to spend much thought on: this is the example of the hermit crab.

Il y a un exemple qui me poursuit, sur lequel je reviens le plus volontiers, car je l’estime de nature à prêter grandement à réfléchir : c’est l’exemple du bernard-l’ermite.


hanneton

→ Norman: hanneton

Inherited from Middle French hanneton, from Old French haneton, from Frankish *hanō (“rooster”), from Proto-Germanic *hanô; + -et + -on.


cigale

Borrowed from Old Occitan cigala, from Vulgar Latin *cicāla, from Latin cicāda.

cicada (any of several insects of the order Hemiptera)


acarien

From acare + -ien, from New Latin acarus. Compare English acarus, Spanish and Portuguese ácaro.


bombyx

From Latin bombyx, from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux).

(archaic, obsolete) a type of woodwind instrument


mante

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek μάντις (mántis, “soothsayer”).

uder

mantis (any of various large insects of the order Mantodea)


scolopendre

fr-noun

scolopendre m or f (plural scolopendres)

Inherited from Middle French scolopendre, from Latin scolopendra/scolopendrium, from Ancient Greek σκολόπενδρα (skolópendra)/σκολόπένδριο (skolópéndrio).

inh+

Asplenium scolopendrium
Asplenium scolopendrium#Translingual

hart's-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)


drosophile

From the genus name Drosophila, from Ancient Greek δρόσος (drósos) + φίλη (phílē).


Anansi

(mythology) Anansi (trickster spider in West African and Caribbean folklore)


écrevisse signal

fr-noun

écrevisse signal f (plural écrevisses signal)

signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)


ascalaphe

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσκάλαφος (askálaphos).

bor+

owlfly (Neuroptera, family Ascalaphidae)


coléoptère

From Ancient Greek κολεόπτερος (koleópteros, “sheath-wing”), from κολεός (koleós, “sheath”) and πτερόν (pterón, “wing”).


charançon

/ʃa.ʁɑ̃.sɔ̃/


tyroglyphe de la farine

fr-noun

tyroglyphe de la farine m (plural tyroglyphes de la farine)


squille

Dans les squilles ou mantes de mer, la structure de la mandibule est la plus singulière. (Cuvier, Anat. comp., t. 3, 1805, p. 306)


cloporte

Likely from clore (“to close”) + porte (“door”), from its habit of rolling into a ball. Another possible derivation is from an unattested *croteporque, mirrored in Occitan porquet de crota (“woodlouse”, literally “cave-pig”). In any case, the analysis in the first proposal is probably responsible for the figurative extension of the word to "porter, concierge".


mante religieuse

fr-noun

mante religieuse f (plural mantes religieuses)


écrevisse

Inherited from Old French crevice, from Frankish *krebtija (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), from Proto-Indo-European *grebʰ-, *gerebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”). Non-etymological initial /e/ appears to be the result of rebracketing in the Old French plural les crevisses.


sylvine

fr:Sylvine (minéral)
fr:Sylvine (papillon)


abeille à miel

fr-noun

abeille à miel f (plural abeilles à miel)

LL-Q150 (fra)-LoquaxFR-abeille à miel.wav


vulcain

Vanessa atalanta
Vanessa atalanta#Translingual

red admiral (butterfly: Vanessa atalanta)


faucheur

faucheur m (plural faucheurs, feminine faucheuse)


faucheux

From faucher + -eux, or possibly from faucheur with loss of the final consonant.


crevette nordique

crevette nordique f (plural crevettes nordiques)

Pandalus borealis
Pandalus borealis#Translingual


dermaptère

dermapteran; earwig (any insect of the order Dermaptera)


hyménoptère

From Ancient Greek ὑμενόπτερος (humenópteros, “membrane-winged”), from ὑμήν (humḗn, “membrane”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”).


aptère

From roots a- (“-less”) + -ptère (“wing”). From Ancient Greek ἄπτερος (ápteros, “wingless”).


tourteau

(heraldry) roundel (of any color except or or argent)

traditional sponge cake with a black crust, from Poitou, made with cottage cheese (cow or goat).


escarbot

From Old French escharbot, from Latin scarabaeus (with the suffix -ot added), from Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “beetle, crayfish”).


escarbot

fr-adj

escarbot (feminine escarbote, masculine plural escarbots, feminine plural escarbotes)

escarbote (feminine)
escarbots (masculine plural)
escarbotes (feminine plural)


vrillette

a type of beetle that eats wood: specifically; one of a small number of species of beetle


myrmécophage

From Ancient Greek myrméco- (“ant”) + -phage (“eater”).


mouche du vinaigre

fr-noun

mouche du vinaigre f (plural mouches de vinaigre)


carmin

→ Dutch: karmijn

Possibly from Medieval Latin *carminium, from Arabic قِرْمِز (qirmiz, “crimson, kermes”) (from Sanskrit कृमिज (kṛmija, “produced by worms”), from कृमि (kṛ́mi, “worm, insect”)), plus or with influence from Latin minium.
Or, from a contraction of Old French carmesin, from Spanish carmesí.


fourmilière

(figuratively) beehive (place full of activity, or in which people are very busy)


hulotte

From Middle French huller (“to wail, to howl”) + -otte, from Latin ululō; compare English ululate.


gammare

A scud, a crustacean of the genus Gammarus


caelifère

any grasshopper belonging to the suborder Caelifera


crevette grise

fr-noun

crevette grise f (plural crevettes grises)

a caridean shrimp of species Crangon crangon


myrmécophilie

From Ancient Greek myrméco- + -philie or myrmécophile + -ie.


mouche à miel

LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-mouche à miel.wav

(archaic or literary outside Louisiana, Cajun) bee


mouche à feu

LL-Q150 (fra)-DenisdeShawi-mouche à feu.wav

Possibly a calque of English firefly, but the evidence is not clear.

(Louisiana)


cheval du diable

cheval du diable m (plural chevaux du diable)

From cheval + du + diable, literally “devil’s horse”.


gallérie

Galleria mellonella
Galleria mellonella#Translingual

a kind of wax-eating moth, Galleria mellonella


fourmilion

From fourmi + lion. Calque of Latin formīca-leō.


araignée porte-croix

fr-noun

araignée porte-croix f (plural araignées porte-croix)

European garden spider
European garden spider

Araneus diadematus
Araneus diadematus#Translingual

European garden spider (Araneus diadematus)


épeire diadème

épeire diadème f (plural épeires diadèmes)


araignée des jardins

araignée des jardins f (plural araignées des jardins)


homard américain

homard américain m (plural homards américains)

Homarus americanus
Homarus americanus#Translingual


homard canadien

homard canadien m (plural homards canadiens)


homard européen

homard européen m (plural homards européens)

Homarus gammarus
Homarus gammarus#Translingual


cigale de mer

slipper lobster, any member of the family Scyllaridae


nécrobie

any of the scavenger species of the beetle family Cleridae. [from 18th c.]


ténébrion meunier

ténébrion meunier m (plural ténébrions meuniers)


hétéroptère

true bug (insect of the order Hemiptera)


paon-du-jour

Alternative form of paon du jour (“European peacock”)


araignée sauteuse

araignée sauteuse f (plural araignées sauteuses)


curculionidé

any of the family Curculionidae of weevils


lycose

From New Latin Lycosa, from Latin lycos, from Ancient Greek λύκος (lúkos).


sylvain

fr-adj

sylvain (feminine sylvaine, masculine plural sylvains, feminine plural sylvaines)

sylvaine (feminine)
sylvains (masculine plural)
sylvaines (feminine plural)

(literary) that lives in the forest, sylvan


sylvain

Any of a number of butterflies, especially some species of admiral


bombyx chinois du chêne

fr-noun

bombyx chinois du chêne m (plural bombyx chinois du chêne)


ver à soie tussah

ver à soie tussah m (plural vers à soie tussah)


bombyx neustrien

bombyx neustrien m (plural bombyx neustriens)


bombyx laineux

bombyx laineux m (plural bombyx laineux)


bombyx du mûrier

bombyx du mûrier m (plural bombyx du mûrier)

LL-Q150 (fra)-Lyokoï-bombyx du mûrier.wav


bombyx du chêne

bombyx du chêne m (plural bombyx du chêne)


sphinx chauve-souris

sphinx chauve-souris m (plural sphinx chauve-souris)

sphinx vespertilio
sphinx vespertilio#French

Synonym of sphinx vespertilio (Hyles vespertilio).


sphinx vespertilio

sphinx vespertilio m (plural sphinx vespertilios)

La chenille du sphinx vespertilio se nourrit sur un épilobe (Epilobium rosmarinifolium) ou sur le gaillet jaune.

The Hyles vespertilio caterpillar feeds on willowherb (Epilobium rosmarinifolium) or yellow bedstraw.


myrmécomorphisme

myrmécomorphisme m (plural myrmécomorphismes)

From Ancient Greek μύρμηξ (múrmēx, “ant”) + μορφή (morphḗ, “shape”). By surface analysis, myrméco- + -morphe + -isme.


éristale de Gates

fr-noun

éristale de Gates m or f (plural éristales de Gates)

Bill Gates' flower fly
Bill Gates' flower fly


daphnie

Borrowed from Latin daphnia, from Ancient Greek δᾰφναίᾱ (daphnaíā).

daphnia (any water flea of the genus Daphnia)


araignée-loup

araignée-loup f (plural araignées-loups)


armadille

L’Armadille est très-répandu dans toutes les régions circa-méditerranéennes; il se trouve sous les pierres.

1892 February 3, Adrian Dollfus, “Catalogue Raisonné des Isopodes Terrestre de l'Espagne”, in Anales de la Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, volume 20, page 164:

The pill bug is very widespread in all circa-Mediterranean regions. It is found under stones.


fourmi-lion

antlion (any insect of the family Myrmeleontidae)


bétaille à feu

bétaille à feu f (plural bétailles à feu)


bétaille à mille pattes

bétaille à mille pattes f (plural bétailles à mille pattes)