Meanings
plural bookworms · alternative book worm
- Any of various insects that infest books.
- figurativelyAn avid book reader.
“This,” remarked the sedate observer beside me, “is a bookworm,—one of those men who are born to gnaw dead thoughts. His clothes, you see, are covered with the dust of libraries.
1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Earth's Holocaust”, in Mosses from an Old ManseSynonyms: bibliophage, bibliophile, bibliovore, book lover, librophile, librovore
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn avid book reader.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From book + worm. Compare West Frisian boekewjirm (“bookworm”), Dutch boekworm, boekwurm, boekenwurm (“bookworm”), Low German Bökerworm (“bookworm”), German Bücherwurm (“bookworm”), Danish bogorm (“bookworm”), Norwegian bokorm (“bookworm”), Faroese bókaormur (“bookworm”), Icelandic bókaormur (“bookworm”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans boekwurm
- boekwurmavid reader
Basque paperjale
- paperjaleavid reader
Bulgarian кни́жен че́рвей, кни́жен че́рвей
- кни́жен че́рвей (knížen čérvej)insect
- кни́жен че́рвей (knížen čérvej)avid reader
Catalan lletraferit, lletraferida
- lletraferitavid reader
- lletraferidaavid reader
Chinese Mandarin 書蛀蟲 /书蛀虫, 蠹魚 /蠹鱼
- 書蛀蟲 /书蛀虫 (shūzhùchóng)insect
- 蠹魚 /蠹鱼 (dùyú)insect
- 書蟲 /书虫 (shūchóng)avid reader
- 書呆子 /书呆子 (shūdāizi)avid reader
Czech knihomol, knihomol
- knihomolinsect
- knihomolavid reader
Danish bogorm, bogorm
- bogorminsect
- bogormavid reader
- læsehestavid reader
Dutch boekenwurm, boekenwurm
- boekenwurminsect
- boekenwurmavid reader
Finnish kirjatoukka, kirjakoi
- kirjatoukkainsect
- kirjakoiinsect
- kirjatoukkaavid reader
- lukutoukkaavid reader
French rat de bibliothèque, papivore
- rat de bibliothèqueavid reader
- papivoreavid reader
- bibliophageavid reader
German Bücherwurm, Bücherwurm
- Bücherwurminsect
- Bücherwurmavid reader
- Leseratteavid reader
- Bücherbohreravid reader
Greek βιβλιοσκώληξ, βιβλιοφάγος
- βιβλιοσκώληξ (vivlioskólix)insect
- βιβλιοφάγος (vivliofágos)insect
- βιβλιοφάγος (vivliofágos)avid reader
- βιβλιόφιλος (vivliófilos)avid reader
- φιλαναγνώστης (filanagnóstis)avid reader
Hebrew תּוֹלַעַת סְפָרִים
- תּוֹלַעַת סְפָרִים (tolá'at sfarím)avid reader
Hindi दीमक, किताबी कीड़ा
- दीमक (dīmak)insect
- किताबी कीड़ा (kitābī kīṛā)insect
- पुस्तक कीट (pustak kīṭ)insect
- किताबी कीड़ा (kitābī kīṛā)avid reader
- पुस्तक कीट (pustak kīṭ)avid reader
Hungarian könyvmoly
- könyvmolyavid reader
Icelandic lestrarhestur
- lestrarhesturavid reader
Indonesian kutu buku
- kutu bukuavid reader
Irish léitheoir craosach
- léitheoir craosachavid reader
Italian bibliofago, bibliofago
- bibliofagoinsect
- bibliofagoavid reader
- topo di bibliotecaavid reader
Japanese 紙魚, 本の虫
- 紙魚 (shimi)insect
- 本の虫 (hon no mushi)insect
- 本の虫 (hon no mushi)avid reader
- 書痴 (shochi)avid reader
Korean 책벌레, 독서광
- 책벌레 (chaekbeolle)insect
- 독서광 (dokseogwang)avid reader
- 책벌레 (chaekbeolle)avid reader
Malay kutu buku, ulat buku
- kutu bukuavid reader
- ulat bukuavid reader
Norwegian Bokmål bokorm, lesehest
- bokorminsect
- lesehestavid reader
- bokormavid reader
Polish mól książkowy, mól książkowy
- mól książkowyinsect
- mól książkowyavid reader
Portuguese traça, rato de biblioteca
- traçainsect
- rato de bibliotecaavid reader
- bibliófagoavid reader
Punjabi ਕਿਤਾਬੀ ਕੀੜਾ
- ਕਿਤਾਬੀ ਕੀੜਾ (kitābī kīṛā)avid reader
Romanian molie de cărți, șoarece de bibliotecă
- molie de cărțiinsect
- șoarece de bibliotecăavid reader
Russian кни́жный червь, кни́жная вошь
- кни́жный червь (knížnyj červʹ)insect
- кни́жная вошь (knížnaja vošʹ)insect
- книгое́д (knigojéd)insect
- кни́жный червь (knížnyj červʹ)avid reader
- книгое́д (knigojéd)avid reader
- книголю́б (knigoljúb)avid reader
- библиофи́л (bibliofíl)avid reader
- книгоче́й (knigočéj)avid reader
- кни́жник (knížnik)avid reader
Slovak knihomoľ, knihomoľ
- knihomoľinsect
- knihomoľavid reader
Spanish ratón de biblioteca, tragalibros
- ratón de bibliotecaavid reader
- tragalibrosavid reader
- comelibrosavid reader
- letraheridoavid reader
Swedish bokmal, bokmal
- bokmalinsect
- bokmalavid reader
- läslusavid reader
- bokslukareavid reader
Tagalog palabasa
- palabasaavid reader
Thai หนอนหนังสือ
- หนอนหนังสือ (nɔ̌ɔn-nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ)avid reader
Turkish kitap kurdu, kitap kurdu
- kitap kurduinsect
- kitap kurduavid reader
Ukrainian книжко́вий хроба́к, книжко́вий черв'я́к
- книжко́вий хроба́к (knyžkóvyj xrobák)insect
- книжко́вий черв'я́к (knyžkóvyj červʺják)insect
- книжко́вий хроба́к (knyžkóvyj xrobák)avid reader
- книголю́б (knyholjúb)avid reader
- бібліофі́л (bibliofíl)avid reader
- кни́жник (knýžnyk)avid reader
- кни́жниця (knýžnycja)avid reader
- книгої́д (knyhojíd)avid reader
Vietnamese mọt sách
- mọt sáchavid reader
Welsh llyfrbryf, llyfrbryf
- llyfrbryfinsect
- llyfrbryfavid reader
- llyfrgarwravid reader
Cite this entry
bookworm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bookworm
“bookworm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bookworm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bookworm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bookworm.
Source: bookworm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.