pismire
pronunciation
How to pronounce pismire in British English:
UK ['pɪsˌmaɪə]
How to pronounce pismire in American English:
US ['pɪsˌmaɪə]
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- Noun:
- social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers
Word Origin
- pismire (n.)
- "ant," late 14c. (early 14c. as a surname), from pyss "urine" (said to be in reference to the acrid smell of an anthill) + mire "an ant," probably from Old Norse maurr "ant" (cognates: Swedish myra, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere, Dutch mier, Crimean Gothic miera "ant"), from PIE base *morwi- (see Formica (2)). Compare pissant, also early Dutch mierseycke (from seycke "urine"), Finnish kusiainen (from kusi "urine"). He is as angry as a pissemyre,Though þat he haue al that he kan desire.[Chaucer]Applied contemptuously to persons from 1560s.