Etymologically
Log in

bug

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bʌɡ/[1]

Etymology

It is of unknown origin.[2][3][4] It was probably influenced by Middle English bugge (“something frightening, scarecrow, bugbear”) (1388),[2][5][6] which survives in bugbear and bugaboo and may be connected with Welsh bwg (“ghost, goblin”), but how is uncertain.[2][3] Barnhart and SOED note a proposed alternative source in Old English -budda, beetle (as in sćearnbudda, dung-beetle), with Low German budde, louse.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Insects of the order to which the bedbug belongs, first the bedbug itself: 1622;[6][7][5] the 1620s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Other insects, especially beetles, are called bugs from 1642.[6] Word Origins notes that Americans use bug for animals the British would call insects, while in Britain it means the bedbug or the Hemiptera.[8] A person obsessed by an idea, as in fire bug, is from 1841,[6] and a defect in a machine or plan from 1889, originally American;[6] the computing sense follows.[9] A germ or illness is from the 20th century,[9][10] and a concealed microphone, with the verb to bug a room, is early 20th-century.[4] To annoy is from 1949, perhaps first in swing music slang.[2]

Timeline

  • 1388 – bugge, a bugbear.[6]
  • 1622 – the bedbug.[6]
  • 1642 – any insect.[6]
  • 1841 – an enthusiast.[6]
  • 1889 – a defect.[6]
  • 1949 – to annoy.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An insect of the order Hemiptera, with mouthparts for piercing and sucking; a true bug.
  2. (chiefly US) Any insect or similar small creature.
  3. (informal) A germ, or a minor illness it causes.
  4. A defect in a machine or system, especially an error in a computer program.
  5. A hidden microphone.
  6. (informal) An enthusiasm or obsession: the travel bug.

Verb

  1. To fit a room or telephone with a hidden microphone.
  2. (informal) To annoy or bother.

Word family

  • bugger
  • bug out

Usage notes

A separate verb bug, of eyes, to bulge (1872), perhaps from a dialect pronunciation of bulge, gives bug-eyed.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins