Link Centre Dictionary

ant

UK/ɛənt/ US/ænt/ fairly common us

noun

1.

social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English ampte, amte, amete, amote, ante, emete, emot, emotte, empt, empte, from Old English ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte, ǣmætte (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (“ant”), of uncertain and debated origin (q.v.), but probably from Proto-Germanic *ē- (“off, away”) + *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂y- (“to cut”).

Phrases

  • acrobat ant
  • agricultural ant
  • Allegheny mound ant
  • Amazon ant
  • ant bear
  • ant beetle
  • antbed parrot
  • antbed parrot moth

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.