Etymology

silkworm

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Today it means: Any of various caterpillars of moths that produce silk cocoons, especially Bombyx mori, the source of most commercial silk. Full definition →

Middle English silkwirm ← Old English seolcwyrm
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromseolcwyrm“silkworm”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsilkwirm
  3. English todaysilkworm

From Middle English silkwirm, from Old English seolcwyrm (“silkworm”), equivalent to silk + worm.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.