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# aphid

«aphid» in Mova's school dictionary: **a very small insect, often green or black, that sucks the…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an aphid, aphids)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An aphid is a very small insect, often green or black, that sucks the sap (juice) from plants. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#m1)

2) Aphids are also called greenfly or blackfly in the UK. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons aphids are an example in food chains: they eat plant sap, and ladybirds (ladybugs), lacewings and birds eat aphids. Gardeners see them as pests because they weaken plants. Ants «farm» aphids for the sweet honeydew they make.

### examples

- Aphids were sucking the sap from the roses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x1)
- Ladybirds eat lots of aphids. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x2)
- Look under the leaf: it's covered in tiny green aphids. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x3)
- Ants protect aphids to get their sweet honeydew. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x4)
- Too many aphids can make a plant wilt. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x5)
- The food chain: rose → aphid → ladybird → bird. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/#x6)

### note

Countable: an aphid, aphids. Pronounced «AY-fid». An aphid is an insect (six legs), not a bug from a computer. «Greenfly» are not flies; it is just a name.

### In the corpora

- [Ladybirds eat aphids, and one ladybird can eat thousands of aphids in its life.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/219-butterflies-moths-and-ladybirds/12/)
- [Some ants guard aphids from ladybirds and stroke them for sweet honeydew, and some keep aphid eggs in the nest over winter.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges/9/)
- [Farmers have other helpers too: ladybirds that eat aphids and barn owls that hunt mice.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/5/)
- [Look at a rose stem covered in tiny green aphids sucking sweet sap.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/334-the-garden-in-summer-flowers-aphids-ladybirds-and-flying-ant-day/1/)
- [A baby aphid is born with its own baby already growing inside it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/334-the-garden-in-summer-flowers-aphids-ladybirds-and-flying-ant-day/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «aphid» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aphid/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.