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lo·cust (lōkəst)
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n.
1. Any of various short-horned grasshoppers that sometimes migrate in immense swarms, devouring vegetation and crops.
2. A cicada, especially a periodical cicada.
3.
a. Any of several trees of the pea family bearing long pods, especially the black locust, honey locust, and carob.
b. The wood of any of these trees.

[Middle English, from Old French locuste, from Latin locusta. Sense 3a, probably from the resemblance of a carob pod to a grasshopper and the use of both as subsistence food in drier regions of the Near East.]
(click for a larger image)
locust
black locust
Robinia pseudoacacia

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.