spider

B1 Topic:Animals

US /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ UK /ˈspaɪ̯də/ See IPA manual

Freq #4269

Meanings

1

noun
A small eight-legged creature that spins webs to catch insects.

A spider had built a web across the corner of the window.
2

noun
A program that automatically follows links across the web to collect information.

Search engines use a spider to discover and index new web pages.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a small eight-legged... attercop

2 noun · a program that... crawler

Word family

Forms spiderlikespidersspidery

Derived forms driderrespiderrockspidersea-spiderseaspiderspider-catcherspider-panicspider-sensespider-webspider-webbyspiderdomspideresque

Related forms arachnid spin spindle

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

spider web
a structure of fine silk threads spun by a spider to catch prey

Noun + noun
spider orchid
an orchid whose flowers resemble the shape of a spider

Noun + noun
spider monkey
a tropical American monkey with long slender limbs and a tail used for gripping

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Spider descends from Old English spithra, which comes from spinnan, “to spin.”

Etymology

From Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term. Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *mězgyrь (whence Russian мизги́рь (mizgírʹ)) (akin to Latvian mežģīt), Turkish örümcek (akin to örmek).

*(s)penh₁- Proto-Indo-European spiþre Middle English spīþra Old English *spinþrijō Proto-West Germanic *spinnaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# spider

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈspaɪ̯də/
**Frequency rank:** 4269

## Meanings
1. A small eight-legged creature that spins webs to catch insects.
2. A program that automatically follows links across the web to collect information.

## Examples
- A spider had built a web across the corner of the window.
- Search engines use a spider to discover and index new web pages.

## Derived Forms
- drider
- respider
- rockspider
- sea-spider
- seaspider
- spider-catcher
- spider-panic
- spider-sense
- spider-web
- spider-webby
- spiderdom
- spideresque

## Related Forms
- arachnid
- spin
- spindle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)penh₁-
- Root: spiþre
- Root: spīþra
- Root: *spinþrijō
- Root: *spinnaną

## Etymology
From Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term. Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *mězgyrь (whence Russian мизги́рь (mizgírʹ)) (akin to Latvian mežģīt), Turkish örümcek (akin to örmek).

## AI Etymology
Spider is from Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term. Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *mězgyrь (whence Russian мизги́рь (mizgírʹ)) (akin to Latvian mežģīt), Turkish örümcek (akin to örmek). Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-, Middle English spiþre, Old English spīþra, Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, Proto-Germanic *spinnaną. In current use it includes senses such as A small eight-legged creature that spins webs to catch insects and A program that automatically follows links across the web to collect information.

## Topics
- Animals

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