# wasp
## English
### Alternative forms

* waps

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /wɒsp/
* (General American) IPA: /wɑsp/
* (African-American Vernacular) IPA: /waps/
* (obsolete) IPA: /wæsp/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒsp

### Etymology 1

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 *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“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 e.g. 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.

#### Noun

wasp (plural wasps)
* Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
* (entomology) 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.

##### Derived terms

* waspie
* waspish
* wasplike
* wasp waist
* wasp-waisted
* waspy
* 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.)
* 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 (reduplicated)

##### Translations
#### Verb

wasp (third-person singular simple present wasps, present participle wasping, simple past and past participle wasped)
* To move like a wasp; to buzz

##### Derived terms

* wasp around

#### See also

* bee
* hornet
* 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, mantidflies, etc.) (Neuroptera)
* damselflies and dragonflies, odonatans (Odonata)
* orthopterans (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, etc.) (Orthoptera)
* stick insects, phasmatodeans (Phasmatodea)
* stoneflies, plecopterans (Plecoptera)
* barklice and 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)
* Alternative letter-case form of WASP (“white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”)

##### Derived terms

* waspy, waspish, waspishly, waspishness

### References

* ↑ Thomas Sheridan (1790) A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning‎, volume 2, C. Dilly

### Anagrams

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

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* wappes, waps, waspe

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wasp/

### Noun

wasp (plural waspes)
* wasp

#### Descendants

* English: wasp, waps
** Sranan Tongo: waswasi (reduplicated)
* Scots: wasp, wesp

#### References

* “wasp, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.