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wasp

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Wasp and WASP

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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    A wasp (noun sense 1)
    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-
    Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂
    Proto-Germanic *wapsō
    Proto-West Germanic *wapsu
    Old English wæps
    Middle English wasp
    English wasp

      Inherited from Middle English wappes, waps, wasp, waspe, from Old English wæfs, wæps, wæsp, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō (“wasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”), referring to the insect's woven nests.

      Cognates

      Cognate with North Frisian wesp (“wasp”), Saterland Frisian Häspe (“wasp”), West Frisian waps (“wasp”), Alemannic German Wespi (“wasp”), Bavarian Weps, Wepsn (“wasp”), Cimbrian bèspa (“wasp”), Dutch and Vilamovian wesp (“wasp”), German Wespe (“wasp”), Low German Weps, Wepse (“wasp”), Yiddish וועספּ (vesp), וועספּע (vespe, “wasp”), Danish hveps (“wasp”), Norwegian Bokmål veps (“wasp”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvefs (“wasp”); also Cornish goghi (“wasp”), Irish foich, foiche, puch (“wasp”), Welsh gwchi (“drone”), Latin vespa (“wasp”), Greek ανυφαίνω (anyfaíno), υφαίνω (yfaíno, “to weave”), Albanian vej (“to weave”), Latvian lapsene (“wasp”), Lithuanian vapsvà (“wasp”), Old Prussian wobse (“wasp”), Belarusian аса́ (asá, “wasp”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian оса́ (osá, “wasp”), Czech vosa (“wasp”), Polish, Slovene, and Slovak osa (“wasp”), Serbo-Croatian о̀са, òsa (“wasp”), Armenian մոզ (moz, “a kind of fly that bites horses and cattle”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬡𐬲𐬀𐬐𐬀 (vaβžaka, “scorpion”), Central Kurdish مۆز (moz, “gadfly, horsefly”), Mazanderani ماز (mâz, “fly”), Northern Kurdish moz (“wasp; gadfly, horsefly; bee; bumblebee”), Persian بوز (bavz / bowz, “wasp”), Tocharian A wäp- (“to weave”), Tocharian B wāp- (“to weave”), Sanskrit उभ्नाति (ubhnāti, “to hurt, kill; to cover”).

      Metathesis of /s/ and /p/ was both a process of some generality within English (compare grasp from Middle English grapsen, and—affecting other plosives—ascian ~ acsian (“to ask”)) and common in the reflexes of *wóps-eh₂ (“wasp”) in particular, as the aforementioned Germanic cognates (and non-Germanic cognates like Latin vespa) evince.

      Alternative forms

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      Noun

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      wasp (plural wasps)

      2. Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
      4. (entomology) Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
        2. Any of the members of the family Vespidae.
      6. A person who behaves in an angry or insolent way, hence waspishly.
      Derived terms
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      insects
      Descendants
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      • ⇒ Sranan Tongo: waswasi
      Translations
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      Verb

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      wasp (third-person singular simple present wasps, present participle wasping, simple past and past participle wasped)

      1. (transitive) To move like a wasp; to buzz.
      Derived terms
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      See also

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      extant orders of insects in English

      Etymology 2

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        Noun

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        wasp (plural wasps)

        1. Alternative letter-case form of WASP (“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”).
          • 2026 January 17, Lauren Cochrane, “Paul Smith reworks his past at Milan menswear salon show”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 January 2026:
            The show went through clothes to suit the lifestyle of a wealthy wasp, an American archetype that is now synonymous with the brand.
        Derived terms
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        References

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        1. ^ Thomas Sheridan (1790), A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning‎[1], volume 2, C. Dilly

        Anagrams

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        Middle English

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        Alternative forms

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        Etymology

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          Inherited from Old English wæps, wæsp; from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂.

          Pronunciation

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          Noun

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          wasp (plural waspes)

          1. wasp

          Descendants

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          References

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