wasp
Meanings
Plural: wasps
Noun
- a white person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry who belongs to a Protestant denomination
- social or solitary hymenopterans typically having a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and having a formidable sting
- Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
- Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
- 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.
- Alternative letter-case form of WASP (“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”).
Verb
- To move like a wasp; to buzz.
Origin / Etymology
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 wasp, waspe, waps, from Old English wæsp, wæps, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“to 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 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.
Synonyms
white Anglo-Saxon Protestant
Scrabble Score: 9
wasp is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordwasp is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
wasp is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary