bug

English Online Dictionary. What means bug‎? What does bug mean?

Translingual

Symbol

bug

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Buginese.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Buginese terms

English

Alternative forms

• bugg (obsolete)

Etymology

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a “bedbug”), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), from Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”) which is traced alternatively to:

• a Celtic root found in Scots bogill (“goblin, bugbear”) and obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat, fear”) and Isthmus Mixe bocanách (“supernatural being”).
• Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin, snot”).
• or to a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.

For the “insect” meaning the assonance with Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda, from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above, might have played a role. Compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud. But ultimately this convergence of meaning doesn't prove a conflation of the two terms, they might have existed parallely since PIE times with similar meanings, even if unnoticed by literary sources.

The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bŭg, IPA^(key): /bʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ
• Hyphenation: bug

Noun

bug (plural bugs)

1. (entomology) An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”).
2. Any of various species of marine or freshwater crustaceans; e.g. a Moreton Bay bug, mudbug.
3. (informal) Any insect, arachnid, or other terrestrial arthropod that is a pest.

4. (informal) Any minibeast.
5. (US) Any insect, arachnid, myriapod or entognath.
6. (UK, obsolete, specifically) A bedbug.
8. (chiefly computing, engineering jargon) A problem that needs fixing.

   Synonyms: defect, glitch
9. A contagious illness, or a pathogen causing it.

10. (informal) An enthusiasm for something; an obsession.
11. (informal) A keen enthusiast or hobbyist.
12. A concealed electronic eavesdropping or intercept device.

13. A small and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.

14. (Maine) A lobster.
15. (television) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to identify the broadcasting network or cable channel.

16. (aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments.
17. A semi-automated telegraph key.
18. (obsolete) Hobgoblin, scarecrow; anything that terrifies. [late 14th c.–early 17th. c]

    Synonyms: bog, bogey, bogle, boggle, boggard, bugbear
19. (chiefly LGBTQ, "the bug") HIV.
20. (poker) A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.
21. (paleontology, slang) A trilobite.
22. (petroleum industry, slang, dated) Synonym of oil bug.
    • July 1933, Popular Science:

      Now, only three years later, most of the major oil companies maintain staffs of these men who examine cores, classify the various types of "bugs," or foraminifera, and make charts showing the depths at which each of the hundreds of types is found.

23. (slang, US, horse-racing) An asterisk denoting an apprentice jockey's weight allowance.
24. (slang, US, horse-racing, by extension) A young apprentice jockey.

    Synonym: bug boy

25. (printing) Synonym of union bug.
26. (gambling, slang) A small piece of metal used in a slot machine to block certain winning combinations.
27. (gambling, slang) A metal clip attached to the underside of a table, etc. to hold hidden cards, as a form of cheating.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

Collocations

Translations

Verb

bug (third-person singular simple present bugs, present participle bugging, simple past and past participle bugged)

2. (informal, transitive) To annoy.

4. (informal, intransitive) To act suspiciously or irrationally, especially in a way that annoys others.

6. (transitive) To install an electronic listening device or devices in.

7. (intransitive, of eyes) To bulge or protrude.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:annoy

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• Hemiptera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hemiptera on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Hemiptera on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Software bug on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• GBU, gub

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbuk], [ˈbak]
• Homophone: buc

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

   Synonyms: error, defecte

Chinese

Etymology

From English bug.

Pronunciation

Noun

bug

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, computing) bug (Classifier: 個／个 c; 隻／只 c)
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, by extension) plot hole (Classifier: 個／个 c)

Verb

bug

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, of software) to have bugs; to fault

Adjective

bug

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, of software) buggy; bugged

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse búkr, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz, cognate with Norwegian, Swedish buk, German Bauch, Dutch buik.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːˀɣ/, [ˈb̥uˀ]

Noun

bug c (singular definite bugen, plural indefinite buge)

1. belly (the lower part the body of an animal or, by analogy, an aircraft)
2. abdomen, abdominal cavity (the lower inner part of a human body)

   Synonym: mave

3. (informal) belly, paunch (a large protruding belly)

   Synonyms: mave, vom

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

English bug

Noun

bug c (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʏɡ/, /bɑɡ/
• Hyphenation: bug

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) a bug (a software problem)

French

Alternative forms

• bogue (computing)

Etymology

From English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bœɡ/, /bɔɡ/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

Derived terms

• buguer

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian)
  • IPA^(key): /ˈbaɡ/ [ˈbak̚]
  • IPA^(key): /ˈbuɡ/ [ˈbʊk̚]
    • Syllabification: bug

Noun

bug (plural bug-bug)

1. (computing) bug, a problem that needs fixing

   Synonyms: kekutu, kutu

Further reading

• “bug” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Karipúna Creole French

Etymology

From French bougre (“chap, guy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuɡ/

Noun

bug

1. boy (young male human)

References

• Alfred W. Tobler (1987) Dicionário Crioulo Karipúna/Português Português/Crioulo Karípúna (in Karipúna Creole French), Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 5

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbak/
• Rhymes: -ak
• Syllabification: bug
• Homophones: bak, Bak

Noun

bug m inan or m animal

1. (slang, software) software bug (error, flaw, or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways)

   Synonym: błąd

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• bug in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bug.

Pronunciation

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug (error in a program’s functioning)

   Synonyms: defeito, falha, erro

2. (Brazil, slang) anything causing unusual behaviour

Derived terms

• bugado
• bugar

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɡ/ [ˈbaɣ̞], /ˈboɡ/ [ˈboɣ̞], /ˈbuɡ/ [ˈbuɣ̞]
• Rhymes: -aɡ, -oɡ, -uɡ
• Syllabification: bug

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

   Synonyms: fallo, defecto