Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗To annoy. · To act suspiciously or irrationally, especially in a way that annoys others. · To install an electronic listening device or devices in. · To bulge or protrude.
An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”). · Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. · Any minibeast. · Any insect.
First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a “bedbug”), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), from Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”) which is traced alternatively to: * a Celtic root found in Scots bogill (“goblin, bugbear”) and obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat, fear”) and Middle Irish bocanách (“supernatural being”). * Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin, snot”). * or to a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre. For the “insect” meaning the assonance with Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda, from Proto-West Germanic *buʀdō, from Proto-Germanic *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above, might have played a role. Compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”), Icelandic budda (“purse”). More at bud. But ultimately this convergence of meaning doesn't prove a conflation of the two terms; they might have existed in parallel since PIE times with similar meanings, even if unnoticed by literary sources. The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Derivation mentionbuggeenm
- Cognate mentionbogillsco
- Cognate mentionbwgcy
- Cognate mentionbocanáchmga
- Derivation mention*bugja-gem-pro
- Derivation mention*bʰew-ine-pro
- Cognate mentionbuggeno
- Derivation mentionbuddeenm
- Derivation mentionbuddaang
- Derivation mention*buʀdōgmw-pro
- Derivation mention*buzdôgem-pro
- Cognate mentionBuddends · louse, grub
- Cognate mentionbuddano · newborn domestic animal
- Cognate mentionbuddais · purse
This page abbreviates 23 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"To act suspiciously or irrationally, especially in a way that annoys others.",
"To install an electronic listening device or devices in.",
"To bulge or protrude."
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