Termites in Tagalog: anay
The Tagalog word for termite is anay, and termites are mga anay. Here are the other words Filipinos use around termites, what each one means, and what to do if you are hearing them about your own house.
Termite words in Tagalog
Anay or langgam?
Termites are sometimes called white ants, puting langgam, but they are not ants. Three things tell them apart. An ant has a pinched waist and a termite does not. An ant’s antennae bend at an elbow and a termite’s are straight. And in the winged ones, an ant’s front wings are longer than its back wings, while a termite’s four wings are about the same length.
The worker termites, the ones eating the wood, are pale and soft and avoid light, so you rarely see them in the open. What you see are the mud tubes they build up walls from the soil, wood that sounds hollow when you tap it, and wings on the windowsill after a swarm. Real photographs of workers and soldiers are on anay, and the full ant comparison is on langgam and flying ants.
Is bukbok a termite?
Sometimes. In rice, bukbok is a weevil. In wood, the same word covers two different insects: drywood termites, which live inside the wood and never go down to the soil, and beetles whose grubs bore through it. The powder they leave is different, and so is what reaches them, which is why it matters which one it is. Bukbok sa kahoy shows how to tell from the powder and the holes.
Can Zonrox, kerosene or used oil kill termites?
Whatever a liquid does to the termites it touches, it does not reach the colony. Most termites that damage houses here live in the soil, sometimes well away from the house, and the queen is down there with them. The workers in the wall are a small part of it. Pouring bleach, kerosene, petrol or used engine oil into a hole or a mud tube leaves the colony where it was, and kerosene and petrol inside a house are a fire risk.
It also breaks the mud tubes, and those are what show an inspector where the termites are active. Take a photo, leave them as they are, and read how to get rid of termites for what does reach a colony.
If someone says may anay in your house
May anay means "there are termites". Check the ground floor first: door and window frames, the wood under the sink, built-in cabinets against a wall, the stairs, and anything wooden stacked on the floor. If you find mud tubes, hollow wood or wings, book an inspection through termite control and prevention and send us your town and a photo through the contact form. We cover Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Tarlac and Olongapo. Buying a house? Use the termite checklist for house buyers before you sign.
Sources
- Tagalog.com dictionary, termite, read 12 October 2026
- Tagalog.com dictionary, anay, read 12 October 2026
- Tagalog.com dictionary, gamugamo, read 12 October 2026
- Tagalog.com dictionary, bukbok, read 12 October 2026
- Tagalog.com dictionary, punso, read 12 October 2026
- University of California IPM, Pest Notes: Subterranean and Other Termites, read 12 October 2026
- Acda, M.N. (2013), Geographical distribution of subterranean termites in economically important regions of Luzon, Philippines, Philippine Agricultural Scientist 96(2): 205-209, read 12 October 2026
- University of California IPM, Ants, read 12 October 2026
Tell us what you have found
Send the pest, the town and roughly how long it has been going on. That is enough for us to say what the treatment would involve and what it depends on.