Etymology

firebug

F4I1R1E1B3U1G2

Today it means: Pyrrhocoris apterus, a common red and black insect, that is the type species of the family Pyrrhocoridae. Full definition →

English bug ← Middle English fyr ← Old English fȳr
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  2. Proto-Germanic*fōr
  3. Proto-West Germanic*fuir
  4. Old Englishfȳr
  5. Middle Englishfyr
  6. Englishfire
  7. Englishbug
  8. English todayfirebug

From fire + bug.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.