bug

CEFRA2

/bʌɡ/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small insect.

  2. 02

    noun

    A mistake or fault in a computer program.

Examples

  • The wicked witch cast a spell on the man and turned him into a bug.

  • There's a bug crawling up your arm.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest.

  2. An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”).

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To annoy someone repeatedly.

More examples

In context

  • We're thoroughly prepared for the Y2K bug.

  • A: Eew, what is that thing?! Is that a bug?! B: No, it's a spider. And don't worry: she's not gonna hurt you.

  • The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 3.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

There is a strange blank crawling on your arm right now.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a “bedbug”), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), from Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”) which is traced alternatively to: * a Celtic root found in Scots bogill (“goblin, bugbear”) and obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat, fear”) and Middle Irish bocanách (“supernatural being”). * Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin, snot”). * or to a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre. For the “insect” meaning the assonance with Middle English bud...