wasp

 
Pronunciation: /wɒsp/

noun

  • 1a social winged insect which has a narrow waist and a sting and is typically yellow with black stripes. It constructs a paper nest from wood pulp and raises the larvae on a diet of insects.
    • Family Vespidae, superfamily Vespoidea, order Hymenoptera: several genera, in particular Vespula and Polistes
  • 2a solitary winged insect with a narrow waist, mostly distantly related to the social wasps and including many parasitic kinds.
    • Several superfamilies in the sections Aculeata (digger, mason, and potter wasps) and Parasitica (parasitic wasps and gall wasps), order Hymenoptera

Derivatives

wasp-like

adjective

Origin:

Old English wæfs, wæps, wæsp, of West Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin vespa; perhaps related to weave1 (from the web-like form of its nest)