Etymologically
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worm

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English worm, inherited from Old English wyrm (“serpent, dragon; reptile; worm”), later also wurm,[2][3][4][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz.[2][4][6][7] Its cognates include wirm, wurm, wurm (German Wurm), worm, ormr (“serpent”) and 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms, “serpent”).[2][8][9][10] The Germanic word comes from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm”),[1][3] and is related to vermis (“worm”), the source of vermin and vermilion,[7][11][6] and to ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).[9][11][8] Watkins, followed by Etymonline and Ayto, derives it from *wer- (“to turn, bend”), which would make the worm the "twisting" creature.[3][7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A serpent or dragon: in Beowulf, where the dragon awakes ("se wyrm onwóc").[2][5][4] Barnhart dates Beowulf to about 725.[4]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, the word's ancestral meaning was "snake", and its use for small limbless creatures is secondary.[7] In Old English it already covered any creeping animal, reptile or insect,[2][5] the earthworm,[2][13] insect larvae such as the silkworm, and the parasitic worms of the body, together with the disease they cause,[2][3] and through Middle English it was used of any crawling creature thought noxious, including scorpions and maggots.[3] Trench (1859) noted that the word once covered all serpents, that in some northern dialects all snakes were still worms, and that blindworm and slowworm keep the old use;[14] the dragon of the folk tale of the Lambton Worm is another survival.[13] As an insult for a vile or wretched person it goes back to Old English.[3] The proverb that even a worm will turn is first recorded in John Heywood's collection of 1546, as "Tread a worm on the tail and it must turn again".[2][13] Implements of spiral form were called worms from 1594, including the coiled pipe of a still (1651) and the thread of a screw (1678).[15] The verb is recorded from 1564;[2][8] its sense "to move sinuously" dates from about 1600,[3][15] and figurative worm one's way from the 1620s.[3] Can of worms, a tangled problem, dates from 1951.[3][13] In 1975 the science-fiction writer John Brunner used worm (and tapeworm) in The Shockwave Rider for a self-replicating program that spreads through a computer network, and the term passed into computing.[16]

Timeline

  • Old English – a serpent or dragon (Beowulf).[2][4]
  • Old English – an earthworm; an insect larva; a parasitic worm.[2]
  • 1546 – the proverb of the worm that turns.[2][13]
  • 1564 – verb, first recorded.[2][8]
  • 1575 – verb, to hunt for worms.[2]
  • 1594 – a tool of spiral form.[15]
  • c1600 – verb, to move like a worm.[3]
  • 1624 – verb, to rid plants of grubs.[2]
  • 1678 – the thread of a screw.[15]
  • 1908 – worm's-eye view.[2]
  • 1932 – verb, to treat an animal for parasitic worms.[2]
  • 1951 – can of worms.[3]
  • 1975 – a self-replicating computer program (John Brunner).[16]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of many small invertebrate animals with a long, soft, limbless body, such as the earthworm, roundworm or flatworm.
  2. An insect larva with a long body, such as a caterpillar or grub.
  3. (in plural) Infestation of the intestines by parasitic worms.
  4. A weak or despicable person: He's a spineless worm.
  5. Something that gnaws at or slowly eats away the mind: a worm of doubt.
  6. Something of spiral or winding form, such as the thread of a screw or the coiled pipe of a still.
  7. (computing) A program that copies itself and spreads through a network, often harmfully.
  8. (archaic) A serpent or dragon.

Verb

  1. To move slowly and sinuously, twisting through a narrow space: She wormed through the crowd to the front.
  2. To get into a position or obtain something by slow, cunning means, as in worm one's way into or worm a secret out of someone.
  3. To treat an animal for parasitic worms: We worm the dogs twice a year.

Word family

  • wormlike
  • wormer
  • vermin
  • vermilion
  • vermicelli
  • wyrm

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  13. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  15. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  16. ^ a b Knowles, Elizabeth; Elliott, Julia, eds. (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press