ant

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small insect that lives in large, organized groups underground.

   A line of ants marched across the kitchen floor toward the sugar.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Ant descends from Old English ǣmete. The same Old English word also produced emmet, an older form that survives in dialect.

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā Old English ǣmete Middle English ampte English ant From Middle English ampte, amte, emete, amete, from Old English ǣmete (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (literally “biting-thing, cutter”), 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”). Cognate with Scots emmot (“ant”), dialectal Dutch emt, empt (“ant”), German Ameise and Emse (“ant”). See also emmet.

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