Weevil Definition

wēvəl
weevils
noun
Any of various families of beetles (esp. Curculionidae) having the head prolonged into a projecting beak that usually curves downward, and including many pest species that feed, esp. as larvae, on cotton, fruits, grain, etc.
Webster's New World
Any of numerous beetles of the superfamily Curculionoidea, especially the snout beetles, that characteristically have a downward-curving snout and are destructive to nuts, fruits, stems, and roots.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Weevil

Noun

Singular:
weevil
Plural:
weevils

Origin of Weevil

  • From Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel, from Proto-Germanic *wibilaz (compare Dutch tortwevel, Low German Scharnwevel, German Wiebel (“beetle, chafer")), from Proto-Indo-European *webÊ°el (compare Lithuanian vãbalas (“beetle, weevil"), dialectal Russian веблица (veblica, “intestinal worm")), from Proto-Indo-European *webÊ°-, *h₁webÊ°- (“to weave, wave"). More at weave and wave.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English wevel from Old English wifel webh- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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