periodical cicada

1. 1.

   North American cicada; appears in great numbers at infrequent intervals because the nymphs take 13 to 17 years to mature

   Synonymsseventeen-year locustMagicicada septendecim

   Broadercicada

   Part ofMagicicada

Questions about periodical cicada

What does periodical cicada mean?

periodical cicada means "North American cicada; appears in great numbers at infrequent intervals because the nymphs take 13 to 17 years to mature".

What is another word for periodical cicada?

Close synonyms include seventeen-year locust, Magicicada septendecim. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is periodical cicada a common word?

periodical cicada is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.