What does stridulate mean?
Stridulate means to make a sharp, high-pitched, rasping sound by rubbing or scraping specialized parts of the body. The term is most often used for insects, especially crickets, grasshoppers, and beetles, though it can also describe similar sounds produced by other animals. In crickets, for example, the sound is created by rubbing one forewing against the other. The word also has a figurative use in descriptions of loud, grating, or mechanically repetitive noises. It is more technical than ordinary alternatives such as “chirp,” “buzz,” or “scrape,” and is therefore especially common in scientific and natural-history writing. Although relatively uncommon in everyday speech, stridulate is memorable because it precisely names a distinctive form of animal communication, often produced as males call to attract mates or warn rivals.
verbTo produce a high-pitched, rasping or grating sound, especially by rubbing or scraping specialized body parts. The verb is especially associated with insects and other animals that generate sound through stridulation.
- To make a sharp, high-pitched, rasping sound by rubbing or scraping specialized body parts, especially in insects.
"The grasshopper stridulated loudly as it defended its territory."
"Crickets stridulate by rubbing their forewings together."
"The beetle produced a faint stridulating sound as it moved through the dry grass."
Some insects make their own music: they rasp specialized body parts together to create the high-pitched sound known as stridulation.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of stridulate
The word comes from Latin stridulatus, meaning “creaking” or “rasping,” a form of the adjective stridulus. Stridulus is related to stridere, an ancient Latin verb meaning “to creak, rasp, or make a shrill sound.” English borrowed the term in the 19th century for the rasping noises made by insects. The modern spelling ending in “-ulate” reflects the Latin-derived formation used in scientific vocabulary.
Related word forms
How stridulate is actually used
This is a relatively specialized verb used chiefly in zoology, entomology, and descriptions of animal sounds. It is more formal than “chirp” or “make a rasping sound.”
Easily confused with stridulate
Stridulate is the verb meaning to make a rasping sound; stridulation is the noun for that sound or the process of producing it.