Weevil Definition
wēvəl
weevils
noun
Any of various families of beetles (esp. Curculionidae) having the head prolonged into a projecting beak that usually curves downward, and including many pest species that feed, esp. as larvae, on cotton, fruits, grain, etc.
Webster's New World
Any of numerous beetles of the superfamily Curculionoidea, especially the snout beetles, that characteristically have a downward-curving snout and are destructive to nuts, fruits, stems, and roots.
American Heritage
Other Word Forms of Weevil
Noun
Singular:
weevil
Plural:
weevilsOrigin of Weevil
-
From Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel, from Proto-Germanic *wibilaz (compare Dutch tortwevel, Low German Scharnwevel, German Wiebel (“beetle, chafer")), from Proto-Indo-European *webÊ°el (compare Lithuanian vãbalas (“beetle, weevil"), dialectal Russian веблица (veblica, “intestinal worm")), from Proto-Indo-European *webÊ°-, *h₁webÊ°- (“to weave, wave"). More at weave and wave.
From Wiktionary
-
Middle English wevel from Old English wifel webh- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Related Articles
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to weevil using the buttons below.