wasp
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A wasp
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɒsp/
- (General American) IPA(key): /wɑsp/
- (African-American Vernacular) IPA(key): /waps/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /wæsp/[1]
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒsp
Etymology 1
From Middle English wasp, waspe, waps, from Old English wæsp, wæps (“wasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wóps-eh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“weave”) (referring to the insect's woven nests).
Compare Dutch wesp, German Wespe, Danish hveps. Metathesis of s and p was both a process of some generality within English (compare e.g. 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.
Noun
wasp (plural wasps)
- Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
- (entomology) Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
- Any of the members of the family Vespidae.
- A person who behaves in an angry or insolent way, hence waspishly.
Derived terms
insects
- baeine wasp (Scelionidae spp.)
- bone-house wasp (Deuteragenia ossarium)
- braconine wasp (Braconidae spp.)
- chalcid wasp (Chalcidoidea spp.)
- cockroach wasp (Ampulicidae spp.)
- common wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
- cuckoo wasp (Chrysididae spp.)
- digger wasp (Sphecidae spp.)
- encyrtid wasp (Encyrtidae spp.)
- ensign wasp (Evaniidae spp.)
- Euro wasp (Dolichovespula media)
- fig wasp (Agaonidae spp.)
- crown wasp (Stephanidae spp.)
- gall wasp (Cynipidae spp.)
- German wasp (Vespula germanica)
- gold wasp (Chrysididae spp.)
- honey wasp
- horse guard wasp (Stictia carolina)
- ichneumon wasp (Ichneumonidae spp.)
- jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa)
- leaf wasp (Symphyta spp.)
- long-tailed wasp (Megalyridae spp.)
- mason wasp (Eumeninae spp.)
- media wasp, median wasp (Dolichovespula media)
- mole cricket wasp (Larra spp.)
- mud wasp
- mutillid wasp (Mutillidae spp.)
- oak rough bulletgall wasp
- paper wasp (Vespidae spp.)
- pelecinid wasp (Pelecinidae spp.)
- platygastrid wasp (Platygastroidea spp.)
- pollen wasp (Vespidae spp.)
- potter wasp (Eumeninae spp.)
- ringed paper wasp
- sand wasp (genus Ammophila spp., in family Sphecidae, or tribe Bembicini, in family Crabronidae)
- scelionid wasp (Scelionidae spp.)
- scolliid wasp (Scolliidae spp.)
- sea wasp (Carybdeida spp., Chirodropida spp.)
- social wasp (Vespinae spp.)
- solitary wasp
- soul-sucking wasp (Ampulex dementor)
- spider wasp (Pompilidae spp.)
- spider-hunting wasp
- stephanid wasp (Stephanidae spp.)
- tiphiid wasp (Tiphiidae spp.)
- two-spotted scoliid wasp
- vespid wasp (Vespidae spp.)
- vespoid wasp (Vespoidea spp.)
- umbrella wasp
- warrior wasp (Synoeca spp., Megalara garuda)
- wasp beetle (Clytus arietis)
- wasp moth (Ctenuchini spp.)
- wasp-nest beetle (Metoecus paradoxus)
- wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)
- wood wasp (suborder Symphyta spp.)
Descendants
- Sranan Tongo: waswasi (reduplicated)
Translations
insect
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Verb
wasp (third-person singular simple present wasps, present participle wasping, simple past and past participle wasped)
- To move like a wasp; to buzz
Derived terms
See also
Etymology 2
Noun
wasp (plural wasps)
- Alternative letter-case form of WASP (“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”)
Derived terms
References
- ^ Thomas Sheridan (1790) A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning, volume 2, C. Dilly
Anagrams
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English wæps, wæsp, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wobʰséh₂.
Pronunciation
Noun
wasp (plural waspes)
Descendants
References
- “wasp, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.