The name "Pentatomidae" is from the Greek "pente" meaning "five" and "tomos" meaning "section", and refers to the five segments of their antennae. Pentatomids are generally called "shield bugs" in English, or "stink bugs" in American English. However, the term shield bugs is also applied broadly to include several related families (e.g. Acanthosomatidae, Scutelleridae, and Cydnidae), or specifically only to refer to species in the family Acanthosomatidae. The term shield bug refers to the generalized body shape of adult bugs in these families which resembles a heraldic shield when viewed from above.