stinkbug

See also: stink bug

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From stink +‎ bug.

Noun

stinkbug (plural stinkbugs)

  1. Any of several insects, usually shield-shaped, possessing a gland that produces a foul-smelling liquid, usually containing aldehydes, which they use to discourage predators.
  2. (entomology) Any of various insects of the order Hemiptera (the "true bugs"), in the suborder Heteroptera, principally in the superfamily Pentatomoidea or Coreoidea.
    • 2025 November 21, Femi Ezhuthupallickal Benny, Thejavikho Chase, “‘We’ve been eating it for more than 100 years’: how one community turns stink bug infestations into lunch”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      Every few years when Udonga montana, a bamboo-feeding stink bug, erupts in massive swarms, the people of the Mizo community in northern India don’t reach for pesticides. Instead, they look for baskets.
  3. (Southwestern US) A pinacate beetle or stink beetle (genus Eleodes) that releases a pungent odor when threatened.

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