wasp

See also: Wasp and WASP

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɒsp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɑsp/
• (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): /waps/ (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /wæsp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒsp

Etymology 1

A wasp (etymology 1 sense 1)

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.

Alternative forms

• waps (dialectal, chiefly African-American Vernacular and UK)

Noun

wasp (plural wasps)

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

Derived terms

• red wasp
• waspie
• waspish
• wasplike
• Wasps Nest
• wasp waist
• wasp-waisted
• waspy

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.)
• parasitoid wasp
• 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

Translations

insect

• Afrikaans: perdeby (af), wesp (af)
• Albanian: grerëz f, grenzë f, arëz (sq) f, anëz f, greth (sq) f
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: јер ару (ǰer aru)

• Arabic: دَبُّور m (dabbūr), زُنْبُور m (zunbūr)

  Egyptian Arabic: دبور m (dabbūr)

  Moroccan Arabic: رزوزية f (rzūziyya)

• Armenian: կրետ (hy) (kret)
• Aromanian: yeaspi f, yiaspi f, ayeaspi f
• Assamese: বৰল (borol)
• Asturian: aviespa f
• Azerbaijani: eşşəkarısı (az)
• Baluchi: گوبز (gwabz)
• Banjarese: tabuan (bjn)
• Bashkir: һағыҙаҡ (hağıźaq)
• Basque: liztor (eu)
• Belarusian: аса́ f (asá)
• Bengali: বোলতা (bn) (bōlota)
• Bulgarian: оса́ (bg) f (osá)
• Burmese: နကျယ်ကောင် (my) (na.kyaikaung)
• Catalan: vespa (ca) f
• Cebuano: lampinig
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵉⵕⵥⵥⵉ m (iṛẓẓi)
• Chamicuro: shani
• Chechen: зӏуга (zˀuga)
• Chichewa: bavu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黃蜂 / 黄蜂 (wong⁴fung¹), 胡蜂 (wu⁴fung¹), 螞蜂 / 蚂蜂 (maa⁵fung¹)

  Mandarin: 黃蜂 / 黄蜂 (zh) (huángfēng), 胡蜂 (zh) (húfēng)

• Chinook Jargon: antʰiyeɬ (Grand Ronde)
• Chuvash: сӑпса (săpsa)
• Cornish: gohien f
• Czech: vosa (cs) f
• Danish: hveps (da) c, gedehams c
• Darkinjung: murulgang
• Dutch: wesp (nl) f
• Elfdalian: djietingg m
• Esperanto: vespo
• Estonian: herilane
• Evenki: дюгуктэ (ʒuguktə)
• Faroese: vespa f
• Finnish: ampiainen (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: vépa f
• French: guêpe (fr) f
• Friulian: gjespe f, jespe f, viespe f
• Fwe: èvù
• Galician: avéspora (gl) f, avespa (gl) f, nespra (gl) f
• Georgian: ბზიკი (bziḳi), კრაზანა (ka) (ḳrazana)
• German: Wespe (de) f
• Greek: σφήκα (el) f (sfíka)

  Ancient Greek: σφήξ m or f (sphḗx)

• Greenlandic: hvepsi, iguutilik
• Gujarati: ભમરી f (bhamrī)
• Haitian Creole: gèp, djèp
• Hanunoo: akut-akot
• Hebrew: צִרְעָה (he) f (tsir'ah)
• Hindi: बरैया f (baraiyā), ततैया (hi) f (tataiyā), हड्डा (hi) m (haḍḍā)
• Hungarian: darázs (hu)
• Icelandic: geitungur (is) m
• Indonesian: tawon (id)
• Ingrian: vaapsahain
• Ingush: зӏокмоза (zˀokmoza)
• Irish: foiche f, beach chapaill f, beach ghabhair f
• Italian: vespa (it) f
• Japanese: 雀蜂 (ja) (すずめばち, suzumebachi), 蜂 (ja) (はち, hachi)
• Kapampangan: tamumu
• Karelian: ampujaini
• Kazakh: ара (ara), сона (sona), жабайы ара (jabaiy ara)
• Khmer: ឪម៉ាល់ (km) (ʼəwmal), ញាំង (ñĕəng), តាហ៊រ (km) (taahɔɔ)
• Komi:

  Komi-Zyrian: зі (zi), чушканзі (ćuškanzi)

• Korean: 말벌 (ko) (malbeol)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زەردەواڵە (ckb) (zerdewalle)

  Northern Kurdish: mozqirtik (ku), pîzang (ku), zirkêtk (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: аары (ky) (aarı)
• Lao: ໂຕຕໍ່ (tō tǭ), ຕໍ່ (tǭ)
• Latgalian: lapsine f
• Latin: vespa f, dolichovespa f
• Latvian: lapsene f
• Lithuanian: vapsva f, širšė f, (Vespa crabro) širšuolis m
• Livonian: vaps
• Low German:

  German Low German: Wöps, Wösp

• Luxembourgish: Harespel (lb) f
• Macedonian: о́са f (ósa)
• Malay: tebuan (ms), penyengat
• Malayalam: കടന്നൽ (kaṭannal)
• Maltese: żunżan m
• Manchu: ᡧᡝᡧᡝᠮᡦᡝ (šešempe)
• Manx: connspeagh m, poogh m, shellan cabbyl m
• Māori: wāpi
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: пачемыш (pačemyš)

  Western Mari: потемшӹ (potemšÿ)

• Megleno-Romanian: ghiaspi f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: морин зөгий (morin zögii), шар зөгий (šar zögii) (China)

  Mongolian script: ᠮᠣᠷᠢᠨ
  ᠵᠥᠭᠡᠢ (morin ǰögei), ᠰᠢᠷ᠎ᠠ
  ᠵᠥᠭᠡᠢ (sir-a ǰögei)

• Navajo: tsísʼnáłtsooí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: veps (no) m

  Nynorsk: veps m, kvefs m

• Nǀuu: ǀʼoosi he ku ǃhui (Western), ǀxʼoosi ha ku ǃhoe (Eastern)
• Occitan: vèspa (oc) f
• Ojibwe: ᐋᒨ (aamoo)
• Old Church Slavonic: оса f (osa)
• Old English: wæps f
• Pacoh: plúh
• Panamint: poihna, woakuutsi
• Persian: زنبور (fa) (zanbur), گبت (fa) (gabt)

  Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭯𐭦 (ʿpz /⁠wabz⁠/)

  Middle Persian: wabz

• Piedmontese: vespa f
• Plautdietsch: Willebie f
• Polish: osa (pl) f
• Portuguese: vespa (pt) f, marimbondo (pt) m
• Romanian: viespe (ro) f
• Romansh: vespra f, viaspra f
• Russian: оса́ (ru) f (osá)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: vievssis

• Sardinian: espa f, espe m
• Scottish Gaelic: speach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀са f, зоља f

  Latin: òsa (sh) f, zolja (sh) f

• Sicilian: vespa (scn) f
• Sindhi:

  Arabic: ڏينڀُو m (ḏembhū)

• Slovak: osa f
• Slovene: ôsa (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wósa f

  Upper Sorbian: wosa f

• Spanish: avispa (es) f
• Swedish: geting (sv) c
• Tagalog: putakti, lulumbo, hinlulumbo
• Tajik: занбӯр (tg) (zanbür), ору (tg) (oru)
• Tarifit: iyarẓẓi m
• Tatar: шөпшә (tt) (şöpşä)
• Thai: ตัวต่อ (th) (dtua dtɔ̀ɔ), ต่อ (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ)
• Tibetan: མདུང་སྦྲང (mdung sbrang)
• Turkish: yaban arısı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یابان آریسی (yaban arısı), زنبور (zenbur)

• Turkmen: ary (tk)
• Udmurt: дуринчи (durinći)
• Ukrainian: оса́ f (osá)
• Unami: kwènhìkche
• Urdu: تتیا ? (tataiyā)
• Uyghur: ھەرە (here)
• Uzbek: ari (uz)
• Venetan: brespa f, bespa f, vespa f, ciospa f
• Vietnamese: ong bắp cày (vi)
• Vilamovian: wesp f
• Volapük: vesep (vo), (older term) lubien
• Walloon: wesse (wa) f
• Welsh: cacynen (cy) f, gwenynen feirch f, picwnen f
• Wolof: njulli-kaata bi
• Yakut: тигээйи (tigeeyi)
• Yiddish: וועספּ f (vesp)
• Yoruba: agbọ́n
• Zaghawa: bingbing
• Záparo: ahápaka

Verb

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

• wasp around

See also

• • bee
  • hornet

extant orders of insects in English

• jumping bristletails, archaeognathans (Archaeognatha)
• cockroaches and termites, blattodeans (Blattodea)
• beetles, coleopterans (Coleoptera)
• earwigs, dermapterans (Dermaptera)
• flies, dipterans (Diptera)
• webspinners, embiopterans (Embioptera)
• mayflies, ephemeropterans (Ephemeroptera)
• ice crawlers, grylloblattodeans (Grylloblattodea)
• true bugs, hemipterans (Hemiptera)
• hymenopterans (ants, bees, wasps, etc.) (Hymenoptera)
• butterflies and moths, lepidopterans (Lepidoptera)
• mantises, mantodeans (Mantodea)
• mantophasmids (Mantophasmatodea)
• scorpionflies, mecopterans (Mecoptera)
• megalopterans (alderflies, dobsonflies, fishflies, etc.) (Megaloptera)
• neuropterans (antlions, lacewings, mantisflies, etc.) (Neuroptera)
• damselflies and dragonflies, odonatans (Odonata)
• orthopterans (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, etc.) (Orthoptera)
• stick insects, phasmatodeans (Phasmatodea)
• stoneflies, plecopterans (Plecoptera)
• booklice, psocodeans (Psocodea)
• snakeflies, raphidiopterans (Raphidioptera)
• fleas, siphonapterans (Siphonaptera)
• strepsipterans (Strepsiptera)
• thrips, thysanopterans (Thysanoptera)
• caddis flies, trichopterans (Trichoptera)
• zorapterans (Zoraptera)
• silverfish, zygentomans (Zygentoma)

Etymology 2

Noun

wasp (plural wasps)

1. Alternative letter-case form of WASP (“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”).
   • 2026 January 17, Lauren Cochrane, “Paul Smith reworks his past at Milan menswear salon show”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 January 2026:

     The show went through clothes to suit the lifestyle of a wealthy wasp, an American archetype that is now synonymous with the brand.

Derived terms

• waspish
• waspishly
• waspishness
• waspy

Anagrams

• WSPA, Spaw, spaw, WAPs, paws, APWs, PWAs, waps, AWPs, waps., PAWS, swap

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wappes, waps, waspe

Etymology

Inherited from Old English wæps, wæsp; from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wasp/

Noun

wasp (plural waspes)

1. wasp

Descendants

• English: wasp, waps (dialectal, chiefly African-American Vernacular and UK) (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: wasp, wesp

References

• “wasp, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 July 2018.