Trichodere
trik-OH-deh-ree
Genus
The hairy-necked one
Literally: Hair-neck
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| trich- | hair | Greek (trich, -o) | combining stem; -o- is the connecting vowel before the next root |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek combining vowel | |
| -dere | the neck, throat (Gr. δέρη) | Greek (dere, -o, =s) | final -e is the nominative singular ending; stem dere- |
A compound Greek noun used as a Latin feminine genus name (treated as feminine by convention for -e ending genera). The two Greek roots trich- (hair) and dere (neck/throat) are joined by the standard Greek connecting vowel -o-. The whole word means 'hairy neck', presumably describing a conspicuously hairy or bristly cervical region of the type specimen.
Pronunciation
- trik-OH-deh-ree Four syllables: trich | o | de | re. Penult 'de' has a short vowel followed by a single consonant (r), so stress falls on the antepenult 'o'. Final -e is long ('ee') per the rule that a word-final vowel is long.
Other readings
trichod- + -ere: trichod- means 'hairy' (an adjectival combining form), giving 'hairy one of the neck'; less clean than the two-root reading above.
The dictionary entry for dere, -o, =s (Greek δέρη) explicitly glosses it as 'neck, throat', making this the preferred reading over der- 'hide' or 'flay'. Trichodere is an accepted genus of longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), consistent with a morphological name referencing a hairy neck or prothorax.