footganger

noun

1. A juvenile locust or grasshopper while in its wingless or flightless phase.

   Midway between Bloomfontein and Kimberley, while riding with Major Beresford, of the South African Constabulary, at the foot of some low hills in the Karoo bush, I came across great numbers of the footgangers.

Where it comes from

Perhaps from Dutch or Afrikaans voetganger (“pedestrian”, literally “foot-goer”), or a partial calque of German Fußgänger (“pedestrian”), equivalent to foot + ganger (“goer, walker, stepper”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry footganger (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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