Word.ws English Dictionary

fig-eater

fig-eater noun: a large beetle (Cotinis nitida) which has elytra that are velvety green with pale borders, which ranges from eastern Canada to central Texas, and which in the southern United States destroys figs.

fig-eater: a large beetle (Cotinis nitida) which has elytra that are velvety green with pale borders, which...
Image: Davefoc, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

fig-eater (plural fig-eaters)

  1. A large beetle (Cotinis nitida) which has elytra that are velvety green with pale borders, which ranges from eastern Canada to central Texas, and which in the southern United States destroys figs.
  2. A beetle (Cotinis mutabilis) which ranges from central Texas across the southwestern United States and Mexico.
    Synonyms:
    figeater beetle, green fruit beetle
  3. A bird (Sylvia hortensis) that feeds on figs and grapes, and that people eat as a delicacy.

Synonyms of fig-eater

Forms of fig-eater

pluralfig-eaters
alternative formfigeater

Origin of fig-eater

From fig + eater.

Questions about fig-eater

What does fig-eater mean?
Fig-eater means a large beetle (Cotinis nitida) which has elytra that are velvety green with pale borders, which ranges from eastern Canada to central Texas, and which in the southern United States destroys figs.
What part of speech is fig-eater?
Fig-eater is a noun.
What is the plural of fig-eater?
The plural of fig-eater is fig-eaters.

Words near fig-eater in the dictionary

  1. fig trees
  2. fig wasp
  3. fig wasps
  4. fig-bird
  5. fig-dust
  6. fig-eater
  7. fig-eaters
  8. fig-leaf
  9. fig-leaf gourd
  10. fig-leafed
  11. fig-leaved

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fig-eater (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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