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An earwig is a small, long, brown insect. At the back of its body it has two hard, curved points, like a tiny pair of scissors. Those points look scary, but they are not very strong, and an earwig will not really hurt you. You find earwigs in the garden, under pots, in flowers, and in dark, wet corners. People used to say they crawl into your ear while you sleep. That old story is how many of us first hear the name — though actually they do not go looking for ears. They are far more interested in plants and tiny bugs. The name is very old. It comes from words for “ear” and “insect”, and one careful reason given is this: when you open the insect’s back wings, they look a little like a human ear. The pincers at the tail are what you notice; the ear-like wings are what the name is about. In British English, people also use earwig as a verb, in a joking, informal way: to earwig is to listen in on someone else’s talk, as if you were creeping closer like the insect. That is a stretch from the animal, not a second spelling.
蠼螋（俗稱夾子蟲）
組成From Middle English erwigge, from Old English ēare (“ear”) + wicga (“insect”). Named from the back wings, which look like human ears when they are unfolded — not from the old scare-story about crawling into ears.
同家族的字
- earthe first part is the same ear that means the body part on the side of your head
原始詞典資料7 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
earwignoun/ˈɪə(ɹ)wɪɡ/
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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.
- The idea was probably strengthened by the earwig′s appearance, with a sharp, pincer-like appendage extending to the rear. However, earwigs are herbivores, and they are no more likely to enter an ear than are ants, bees, flies, or any other small insect. Even when earwigs do occasionally find their way into human ears, they cannot burrow their way through the skin and into the brain.
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One who whispers insinuations; a secret counsellor.
- That gawdy earwig, or my lord your patron, Whose pensioner you are.
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A flatterer.
earwigverb/ˈɪə(ɹ)wɪɡ/
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To fill the mind of with prejudice by insinuations.
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To attempt to influence by persistent confidential argument or talk.
- In the interim, rest assured that Mr. Atherstone is by no means your friend, for he was perpetually earwigging poor Sir Rowland.
- The hon. gentleman Mr. Reynolds had expressed his fears that the Government would allow themselves to be earwigged out of the money.
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slangTo eavesdrop.
- He had heard nothing from Fin, or anyone else, since the angry exchange the other night and was worried about how things were going, but he couldn′t ask about the LeMotts, not with Mum earwigging.
- The nameless earwigging writer scrawled in his notebook that “MS and CT also considered that such low life would have a greater pride and satisfaction in life if they could themselves be cooked and served still bleating to rich diners.″
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slangTo eavesdrop on.
- We are meeting at a friendly, higher-end Shanghai brunching spot beloved of expats—cramped and informal enough that one of the three bankers at the next table is cheerfully earwigging our conversation.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。