adj. Of, relating to, or belonging to the arachnid family Acaridae, which includes mites that infest stored food. n. An arachnid of the subclass Acari or the order Acarina, which includes the mites and ticks. [From New Latin Acaridae, family name, from Acarus, type genus, from acarus, mite, variant of acari, from Greek akari, a kind of mite that lives in cheese, probably alteration (influenced by koris, bedbug) of akarēs, too short to be cut, tiny; akin to epikarsios, cross-wise, at an angle; see sker- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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