guêpe

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂der.

Latin vespa

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Frankish *wapsuinflu.

Old French guespe

Middle French guespe

French guêpe

Inherited from Middle French guespe, from Old French guespe, wespe, wapce (“hornet, wasp”), from a conflation of Latin vespa (“wasp”), and Frankish *wapsu; both from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛp/

  • Audio (France):

    (file)

• (chiefly Belgium and Canada, dated elsewhere) IPA^(key): /ɡɛːp/
  • (Quebec) IPA^(key): [ɡaɛ̯p]

    • Audio (Quebec):

      (file)

    • Audio (Canada):

      (file)

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛp/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Noun

guêpe f (plural guêpes)

1. wasp (any of many types of stinging flying insects resembling a hornet, normally of the suborder Apocrita)

Derived terms

• guêpe solitaire
• guêpier
• guêpière
• taille de guêpe

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: gèp, djèp

See also

• abeille (“bee”)
• frelon (“hornet”)

Further reading

• “guêpe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012