Other forms: hornets
A hornet is a large wasp with a very painful sting. A hornet's nest, stung by a hornet, hornets in the roof.
European hornets are far calmer than common wasps and sting only near the nest, despite the reputation. Stir up a hornet's nest means to provoke a great deal of angry trouble at once. The name is Old English and related to the word for a horn.
1nounhornetA large wasp with a painful sting.
“A hornet flew into the kitchen, and everyone ran outside.”
hornet is an insect.
Old English hyrnetu names the insect, from a Germanic root probably connected with horn, from the antennae or the sound.
Proto-Germanic
*hurznutō
Proto-West Germanic
*hurnutu
Old English
hyrnetu
Middle English
hernet
English, today
hornet
Built from
From Middle English hernet, from Old English hyrnetu, hyrnete, from Proto-West Germanic hurnutu, from Proto-Germanic hurznutō (compare German Hornisse), alteration of Proto-Germanic hursulǭ (compare Dutch horzel), from Proto-Indo-European ḱr̥h₂sro- (“hornet”) literally “the one with horns (antennae)”, from ḱerh₂- (“horn”) (compare Welsh creyryn (“gadfly”), Latin crābrō (“hornet”), Lithuanian širšė (“wasp”), Proto-Slavic sьrxy (whence cu сръшень (“hornet”) and many others), Albanian grerë, grenzë (“wasp, hornet”)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA