maggot

English

Etymology

From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from common Proto-Germanic root *mathon-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *math-, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made +‎ -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask. The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in his or her brain.

Pronunciation

• enPR: măg'ət, IPA^(key): /ˈmæɡət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

maggot (plural maggots)

1. A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.
2. (derogatory) A worthless person.

   Drop and give me fifty, maggot.

3. (obsolete) A whimsy or fancy.

   Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, an old country dance [1].

   • 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv.

     Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?

4. (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

Synonyms

• (soft legless larva): grub

Derived terms

terms derived from maggot (noun)

• act the maggot
• maggoted
• maggoting
• maggotish

• maggotorium
• maggoty
• maggotiness

Related terms

• mawk
• mawkish

Translations

dipterous insect's larva that eats decomposing flesh

• Burmese: လောက် (my) (lauk)
• Catalan: asticot m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛆 (zh) (qū), 蠐 (zh), 蛴 (zh) (qí)

• Cornish: kontronen f
• Czech: larva f, červ (cs) m
• Danish: maddike
• Dutch: made (nl) f
• Esperanto: muŝido
• Finnish: toukka (fi), kärpäsentoukka
• French: asticot (fr) m, larve (fr) f (larva)
• Galician: cadeixa f, areixa f, sese m
• Georgian: მატლი (ka) (maṭli)
• German: Made (de) f, Fleischmade f
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌸𐌰 m (maþa)
• Hebrew: רימה‎ (he) f (rima)
• Hungarian: kukac (hu)
• Irish: cruimh f
• Italian: larva (it) f
• Japanese: 蛆 (ja) (うじ, uji), ウジ (uji)
• Korean: 구더기 (gudeogi)
• Latvian: cirmenis m
• Luxembourgish: Mued m

• Manchu: ᠶᡝᠶᡝ (yeye)
• Manx: crooag f
• Mi'kmaq: gulpatgij
• Mongolian: өт (mn) (öt), авгалдай (mn) (avgaldaj), хорхой (mn) (horhoj)
• Navajo: chʼosh
• Norman: magot m (Jersey)
• Polish: larwa (pl) f, (colloquial) robak (pl) m
• Portuguese: larva (pt) f
• Romanian: larvă (ro), vierme (ro)
• Russian: опа́рыш (ru) m (opáryš), личи́нка (ru) f (ličínka) (larva), червь (ru) m (červʹ) (worm)
• Scottish Gaelic: cnothag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лѝчӣнка f

  Roman: lìčīnka (sh) f

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: cerw m

• Spanish: larva (es) f, cresa f, gusano (es) m, verme (es) m, vierme (es) m
• Swedish: larv (sv) c, maggot (sv) c
• Turkish: kurt (tr), kurtçuk (tr)
• Uzbek: qurt (uz), qumursqa (uz)
• Volapük: mitameit
• Welsh: cynrhonyn m

worthless person

• Czech: červ (cs) m
• Dutch: made (nl) f, worm (nl) m
• Finnish: liero (fi), mato (fi)
• Portuguese: verme (pt) m

• Russian: червь (ru) m (červʹ), гни́да (ru) f (gnída)
• Spanish: gusano (es) m
• Swedish: likmask (sv) c, mask (sv) c

whimsy or fancy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 空想 (zh) (kōngxiǎng)

• Dutch: gril (nl), kuur (nl), luim

• Portuguese: capricho (pt) m
• Russian: причу́да (ru) f (pričúda), фанта́зия (ru) f (fantázija)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} senkrura larvo
• French: ^{(please verify)} asticot (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} larve (fr)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} רימה‎
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} belatung (id)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} baco (it) m, ^{(please verify)} verme (it) m
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} larvă (ro), ^{(please verify)} vierme (ro)
• Sundanese: ^{(please verify)} bilatung (su)