The word 'thrip' presents a fascinating case of linguistic simplification and error fossilization. It originates from the modern Latin genus name Thrips, which was itself adopted from the ancient Greek word 'θρίψ' (thrips), meaning 'woodworm'. This Greek term was likely a simplex word with no further analyzable morphemes in common usage. In a twist of etymological history, the original Greek and Latin form Thrips is singular, with a plural Thripes. However, the final 's' was misinterpreted as an English plural marker. This led to the back-formation of the new singular 'thrip', which is now a standard, though less common, variant alongside the original 'thrips' used for both singular and plural. Thus, the modern word 'thrip' is a loanword whose form has been reshaped by the grammatical patterns of its new language.

This word is a simplex form. It is a modern scientific alteration of an earlier taxonomic term, treated as a single, unsegmentable unit in contemporary English.