Relating to or derived from ants; also relating to formic acid, a colorless chemical compound found in ant venom.
From Latin 'formica' (ant) + '-ic' suffix. Named because formic acid was first isolated from ants in the 17th century by distilling their bodies—a grimly practical discovery.
When 17th-century chemists boiled down ants to isolate this acid, they unknowingly discovered what ants use as a chemical weapon—formic acid is why ant bites sting, making the discovery both logical and somewhat dark.
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