Difference between Pesticide, Fungicide and Herbicide

The ending -cide comes from the Latin word caedere (to kill). The word beginning indicates what is killed in detail.

• Pesticides are substances for killing animal pests (from Latin pestis "scourge", "disease").
• Fungicides are substances for controlling and killing fungi or their spores (from Latin fungus "mushroom", "sponge").
• Herbicides are substances for the mortification of plants, for example weedkillers (from Latin herba "herb", "grass").

In addition to these terms, there are also other names for substances depending on the operating or application place, such as bactericides (against bacteria), virucides (against viruses), insecticides (againts insects, subcategory of pesticides) or algicides (against algae, likewise a sub-form of pesticides). The list can be continued like desired.
Last update on 2020-10-18 | Created on 2017-12-28