a small, pale soft-bodied insect that lives in large colonies with several different castes, typically within a mound of cemented earth. Many kinds feed on wood and can be highly destructive to trees and timber 白蚁。 亦称 white ant
Order Isoptera: several families 等翅目:数科
语源
late 18th cent.: from late Latin termes, termit- 'woodworm', alteration of Latin tarmes, perhaps by association with terere 'to rub'