Etymology

woodworm

W4O1O1D2W4O1R1M3

Today it means: Any of many beetle larvae that bore into wood. Full definition →

English worm ← Middle English worm ← Old English wyrm
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁weydʰh₁-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(h₁)wéydʰ(h₁)us
  6. Proto-Germanic*widuz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*widu
  8. Old Englishwidu
  9. Old Englishwudu
  10. Middle Englishwode
  11. Englishwood
  12. Proto-Germanic*wurmiz
  13. Proto-West Germanic*wurmi
  14. Old Englishwyrm
  15. Middle Englishworm
  16. Englishworm
  17. English todaywoodworm

From wood + worm.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.