wasp

Meaning

Noun

1. Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
2. Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
3. Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
4. A person who behaves in an angry or insolent way, hence waspishly.

Verb

To move like a wasp; to buzz

Synonyms

hornet

bee

🐝

yellow jacket

yellowjacket

fly

✈️

insect

helicopter

🚁

hornets

social

wasps

etc.

paper wasp

mason wasp

wild bee

honey

🍯

bumblebee

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wɒsp/

Etymology

table
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.