teredo

[ tuh-ree-doh ]

noun

, plural te·re·dos, te·re·di·nes [t, uh, -, reed, -n-eez].

1. a shipworm of the genus Teredo.

teredo

/ tɛˈriːdəʊ /

noun

1. any marine bivalve mollusc of the genus Teredo See shipworm

Word History and Origins

Origin of teredo¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin terēdō < Greek terēdṓn wood-boring worm

Word History and Origins

Origin of teredo¹

C17: via Latin from Greek terēdōn wood-boring worm; related to Greek tetrainein to pierce

Example Sentences

The seven plagues of California’s piers are fire, ocean storms, fire, old age, civic budgets, ship worms called teredos, and fire.

From Los Angeles Times

Matters reached crisis-point in the early 1980s, when it was discovered that the enormous wooden piles which hold up the entire structure were infested with teredo shipworm.

From BBC

The warm waters of the Caribbean are paradise for teredo worms, which are actually mollusks with a voracious appetite for wood.

From National Geographic

A long trestle at the foot of Pike Street, Seattle, at which the ship “Belle Isle,” among others, often loaded, fell in, demolished by the work of the teredo.

From Project Gutenberg

"We are seldom engaged on such a trifling affair as this," replied the teredo; "we eat through ships and piers, and piles made of the hard trunks of oaks."

From Project Gutenberg