Word.ws English Dictionary

earwigs

earwigs is the plural of earwig.

earwigs is the third-person singular simple present indicative of earwig.

Meaning of earwig

Noun

earwig (plural earwigs)

  1. Any of various insects of the order Dermaptera that have elongated bodies, large membranous wings folded underneath short leathery forewings and a pair of large pincers protruding from the rear of the abdomen.
    • "That's a fine young fellow," said the historiographer of earwigs, to an American who stood next him in the crowd.1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XVII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 171
    Synonyms:
    forkytail, pincher bug, twinge
  2. One who whispers insinuations; a secret counsellor.
    • That gawdy earwig, or my lord your patron, Whose pensioner you are.1633, John Ford (dramatist), The Broken Heart
  3. A flatterer.

See all 7 meanings of earwig

Phrases with earwigs

Questions about earwigs

What is earwigs the plural of?
Earwigs is the plural of earwig.

Words near earwigs in the dictionary

  1. earwigger
  2. earwiggers
  3. earwigging
  4. earwiggings
  5. earwiggy
  6. earwigs
  7. earwire
  8. earwires
  9. earwitness
  10. earwitnessed
  11. earwitnesses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: earwigs (page history and authors); earwig (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “earwigs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/earwigs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.