Word.ws English Dictionary

tettix

Syllables: tet·tix/ˈtɛtɪks/

tettix noun: a cicada, especially in Greece.

tettix: a cicada, especially in Greece
Image: Richard Hertwig, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

tettix (plural tettixes)

  1. A cicada, especially in Greece.
    • [T]he Tettix or Cicada in the day time is extremely troubleſome. It is a brown inſect reſembling a chafer, with wings much longer than its body, and thin like thoſe of a fly. […] Dionyſius of Syracuſe ſignified his reſolution to burn and lay waſte the territory of a people, with whom he had a...1776, Richard Chandler, “chapter LXXXII”, in Travels in Asia Minor: Or An Account of a Tour Made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti, 2nd edition, London: Sold by J[ames] Dodsley, J[ames]...
    • [T]hat Greek waste silent but for the risp of the tettix and the wash of listless wind through the spare grass.1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!: Six Stories, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN

Forms of tettix

pluraltettixes

Origin of tettix

From Ancient Greek τέττιξ (téttix), or perhaps a modern Greek descendant thereof.

Questions about tettix

What does tettix mean?
Tettix means a cicada, especially in Greece.
What part of speech is tettix?
Tettix is a noun.
How do you pronounce tettix?
Tettix is pronounced /ˈtɛtɪks/ (UK).
What is the plural of tettix?
The plural of tettix is tettixes.

Words near tettix in the dictionary

  1. tettigoniid
  2. tettigoniids
  3. tettigonioid
  4. tettigonioids
  5. tettish
  6. tettix
  7. tettixes
  8. tetty
  9. Tetum
  10. Tetyana
  11. Tetzcoco

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tettix (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tettix.wav.

Cite this entry: “tettix.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tettix. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.