earthworm

English

An earthworm

Etymology

From Middle English erthe-worm, erþe-worm, erþe worm (also as worm of þe erthe, worm of þe erþe), equivalent to earth +‎ worm. Compare Saterland Frisian Äidwurm (“earthworm”), West Frisian ierdwjirm (“earthworm”), Dutch aardworm (“earthworm”), less common German Erdwurm (“earthworm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɜː(ɹ)θˌwɜː(ɹ)m/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: earth‧worm

Noun

earthworm (plural earthworms)

1. A worm that lives in the ground.
   • 1880, Journal of Microscopy‎^[1], volume 3:

     It does not, however, happen that the whole spermatosphere is converted into spermatoblasts; there remains a passive portion, which in the earthworm occupies a central position; this is the "sperm-blasophore," or "blastophoral cell."

2. A worm of the family Lumbricidae, or, more generally, of the suborder Lumbricina.
   • 1975, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Zoology, volume 26, page 205:

     Before the study was begun, the known oligochaete fauna of Tasmania consisted of six species of aquatic microdriles, twenty-three indigenous species of megascolecid earthworms, and introduced earthworms of the family Lumbricidae.

3. (figurative) A contemptible person; a groveller.

Synonyms

• (a ground-living worm): rainworm, groundworm; wiggler, red worm, red wiggler (Southern US); nightwalker (New England); nightcrawler (Northern US, Western US); dew worm (US Great Lakes region, Canada)

Hyponyms

• (a ground-living worm): baitworm; fishworm (Northern US, Central US); angleworm (Northern US); fishing worm (Southern US) - fish bait

Translations

worm (animal)

• Acehnese: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: rrajzë (sq) f, glistër (sq) f
• Amis: 'atikak
• Arabic: دُودَة الْأَرْض f (dūda(t) al-ʔarḍ), خُرْطُون m (ḵurṭūn)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Assamese: কেঁচু (kẽsu)
• Aymara: sillq'u
• Azerbaijani: soxulcan (az)
• Bashkir: селәүсен (seləwsen)
• Basque: zizare
• Bengali: কেঁচো (bn) (kẽcō)
• Bhojpuri: केंचुआ (kēñcuā)
• Bulgarian: дъждовен червей m (dǎždoven červej)
• Catalan: cuc de terra m, llambric m
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Cham:

  Eastern Cham: laning

  Western Cham: please add this translation if you can

• Chamicuro: taykonono
• Cherokee: ᎤᏥᏯ (utsiya)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蚯蚓 (jau¹ jan⁵)

  Hakka: 䘆公 (hién-kûng)

  Hokkien: 杜蚓 (tō͘-ún, tō͘-ín, tō͘-kún, tō͘-kín), 杜蚓仔 (zh-min-nan) (tō͘-kún-á, tō͘-ún-á), 牛貫 / 牛贯 (gû-kǹg), 塗蚓 / 涂蚓 (zh-min-nan) (thô͘-ún)

  Mandarin: 蚯蚓 (zh) (qiūyǐn), 地龍 / 地龙 (zh) (dìlóng)

• Cornish: buluk (collective), bulugen f
• Czech: žížala (cs) f, dešťovka (cs) f
• Danish: regnorm (da) c
• Dutch: aardworm (nl), regenworm (nl)
• Dzongkha: ལྕོང་འབུཔ (lcong 'bup)
• Esperanto: lumbriko, tervermo
• Estonian: vihmauss
• Faroese: reyðmaðkur (fo) m
• Finnish: kastemato (fi), kasteliero (fi)
• French: ver de terre (fr) m, lombric (fr) m (formal), lèche (fr) f (Louisiana)
• Galician: miñoca (gl) f, mioca (gl) f, lombriga f
• Gallo: bidjin m
• Georgian: ჭიაყელა (č̣iaq̇ela)
• German: (usual) Regenwurm (de) m; (other names) Aalwurm m, Erdwurm m, Tauwurm m; (biology) Gemeiner Regenwurm m
• Greek: γαιοσκώληκας m (gaioskólikas), σκουληκαντέρα (el) f (skoulikantéra)

  Ancient Greek: (Doric Greek) γαφάγας m (gaphágas)

• Guaraní: sevo’i
• Hebrew: שִׁלְשׁוּל (he) m (shilshúl)
• Hindi: केंचुआ (kẽcuā), केचुआ (hi) m (kecuā), केँचुवा (hi) m (kẽcuvā), किञ्चिलिक (hi) m (kiñcilik), दीप्तरस (hi) m (dīptaras)
• Hungarian: földigiliszta (hu)
• Iban: belut
• Icelandic: ánamaðkur (is) m
• Ido: lombriko (io)
• Indonesian: cacing tanah (id)
• Irish: péist talún f, cuideog f, agaill f, anglach m
• Italian: lombrico (it) m
• Japanese: 蚯蚓 (ja) (みみず, ミミズ, mimizu, きゅういん, kyūin)
• Javanese: cacing lemah
• Kalmyk: улан хорха (ulan xorxa)
• Komi-Permyak: нидзыв (ńidźyv)
• Korean: 지렁이 (ko) (jireong'i)
• Lao: ໃສ້ເດືອນ (sai dư̄an), ກະເດືອນ (ka dư̄an), ຖັກແທ່ (thak thǣ)
• Latin: lumbrīcus m
• Latvian: slieka (lv) f
• Lithuanian: sliekas m
• Luxembourgish: Reewuerm m
• Macedonian: глиста f (glista)
• Malay: cacing tanah (ms)
• Malayalam: മണ്ണിര (maṇṇira)
• Manchu: ᠪᡝᡨᡝᠨ (beten)
• Manx: dhiane m
• Marathi: गांडूळ n (gāṇḍūḷ)
• Mbyá Guaraní: evo'i
• Middle English: erþe worm, worm, maddok
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чийгийн улаан хорхой (čiigiin ulaan xorxoj)

• Nanai: пэнтэ (pente)
• Navajo: łeeyiʼ chʼosh
• Norman: vèr dé tèrre m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: meitemark m, meitemakk m
• Old English: reġnwyrm m
• Ottoman Turkish: صوغلجان (soğulcan)
• Pawnee: piiruskiraararuut
• Persian: کرم خاکی (kerm-e xāki)
• Polish: dżdżownica (pl) f
• Portuguese: minhoca (pt) f
• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: mondavèscuv m, madavèscul, madavèscol m (Ravennate area)
• Romanian: râmă (ro) f
• Russian: дождево́й че́рвь m (doždevój čérvʹ), земляно́й червь m (zemljanój červʹ)
• Sanskrit: किञ्चिलिक (sa) m (kiñcilika), किञ्चुलुक (sa) m (kiñculuka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: глиста f

  Roman: glista (sh) f

• Sicilian: casèntaru (scn) m
• Slovak: dážďovka f
• Southern Altai: чойлошкон (čoyloškon)
• Spanish: lombriz de tierra f, gusano de tierra m, miñosa f, lombriz térrea f, lambrija f, gusano terrero m
• Swahili: choo (sw)
• Swedish: daggmask (sv)
• Tagalog: bulateng lupa
• Tamil: மண்புழு (ta) (maṇpuḻu)
• Tarifit: adan n tmurt m
• Tausug: please add this translation if you can
• Tày: đươn
• Telugu: వానపాము (te) (vānapāmu)
• Thai: ไส้เดือน (th) (sâi-dʉʉan), รากดิน (th) (râak-din)
• Turkish: yer solucanı (tr)
• Vietnamese: giun đất (vi), trùn (vi)
• Volapük: tailavum (vo), lumbrig
• Welsh: abwydyn m, mwydyn m, pryf genwair m
• White Hmong: cua nab
• Zhuang: ndwen
• Zulu: umsundu class 3/4

person

• Finnish: liero (fi)
• German: Kriecher (de) m
• Greek: σκουλήκι (el) n (skoulíki)
• Hungarian: csúszómászó (hu), talpnyaló (hu)
• Russian: червя́к (ru) m (červják)
• Swahili: choo (sw)

References

• “earthworm”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “earthworm”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• earthworm on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• heartworm