weevil

Meaning

Noun

• Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the superfamily Curculionoidea, many having a distinctive snout.
• Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the family Curculionidae belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea.
• Any of several similar but more distantly related beetles such as the biscuit weevil (Stegobium paniceum (species)).
• A loathsome person.

Related

Similar words

• snout beetle, true weevil

Origin

• From Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel ("beetle#Noun"), from Proto-West Germanic *wibil, from Proto-Germanic *wibilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰel-, from *webʰ-, said to be from the woven appearance of a weevil’s [[larval case, + *-el-; see also wave and weave.
• Compare Old Saxon *wivil; Middle Low German wevel; Old High German wibil, wipil (modern German Wiebel ("beetle; chafer")); Lithuanian vãbalas ("beetle; weevil"); Old Norse vifill, as in tordyfill (whence Dutch tortwevel; Icelandic tordýfill, Norwegian tordivel, Old English tordwifel, Swedish tordyvel); dialectal Russian ве́блица ("intestinal [[worm#Noun").