Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any one of several species of predatory bugs of the family Reduviidæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Zoöl.), United States Any one of several species of blood-sucking, venomous Hemiptera that sometimes bite the lip or other parts of the human body, causing painful sores, as the cone-nose (
Conorhinus sanguisuga ).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
bug from the familyHemiptera , that causes sores to the human body
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large bloodsucking bug
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word kissing bug.
Examples
-
She had tested positive for Chagas disease, which is caused by a parasite spread by triatomine bugs, otherwise known as kissing bugs.
‘Kissing bug’ disease should be treated as endemic in US, scientists say Eric Berger 2025
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.