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wasp

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

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A wasp

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. The metathesis of s and p reflects a process of some generality in Old English, cf. ascian ~ acsian (to ask); here, Latin vespa (wasp) (also a cognate- cf. Old French wespe) may have helped tilt the scales in favour of -sp. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Noun

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wasp (plural wasps)

  1. Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
  2. (entomology) Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
    1. Any of the members of the family Vespidae.
  3. A person who behaves in an angry or insolent way, hence waspishly.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Sranan Tongo: waswasi (reduplicated)
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. To move like a wasp; to buzz
Derived terms
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See also

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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)
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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From Old English wæps, wæsp, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wobʰséh₂.

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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