"earworm" meaning in All languages combined

See earworm on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈɪəwɜːm/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈɪ(ə)ɹˌwɚm/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-earworm.wav [Received-Pronunciation] Forms: earworms [plural]
Etymology: From ear + worm; senses 1 and 3 (“tune that keeps replaying in one’s head”; “earwig”) are a calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”) (from the idea of a creature burrowing into the ear, an erroneous belief where earwigs are concerned), while sense 2 (“moth larva”) refers to the fact that these pests infest, among other things, ears of maize or sweet corn. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|ear|worm}} ear + worm, {{calque|en|de|Ohrwurm|nocap=1|t=tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig}} calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”), {{sup|1}} ¹, {{sup|2}} ² Head templates: {{en-noun}} earworm (plural earworms)
  1. A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted. Synonyms: brainworm Translations (tune that keeps replaying in one's head): 耳蟲 (Chinese Mandarin), 耳虫 (ěrchóng) (Chinese Mandarin), ørehænger [common-gender] (Danish), oorwurm [masculine] (Dutch), landaplága [feminine] (Faroese), korvamato (Finnish), päässä soiva kappale (Finnish), Ohrwurm [masculine] (German), dallamtapadás (Hungarian), tormentone [masculine] (Italian), música chiclete [feminine] (Portuguese), навязчивая мело́дия (navjazčivaja melódija) [feminine] (Russian), èist-bhèist [feminine] (Scottish Gaelic), muzika u glavi [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), melodía pegadiza [feminine] (Spanish), melodía pegajosa [feminine] (Spanish), öronmask [common-gender] (Swedish), காதுப்புழு (kātuppuḻu) (Tamil), sâu tai (Vietnamese)
    Sense id: en-earworm-en-noun-Raf2UJI6 Categories (other): English entries with language name categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 47 42 11 Disambiguation of "tune that keeps replaying in one's head": 96 2 2
  2. (originally US) Short for corn earworm (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”). Tags: abbreviation, alt-of Alternative form of: corn earworm (extra: (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”).) Categories (topical): Music Categories (lifeform): Noctuoid moths
    Sense id: en-earworm-en-noun-FsPQG1Jl Disambiguation of Music: 33 50 17 Disambiguation of Noctuoid moths: 27 55 18 Categories (other): American English, English endocentric compounds, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English endocentric compounds: 36 52 12 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 50 13 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 47 42 11 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 25 63 12
  3. (archaic) An earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”). Tags: archaic Categories (lifeform): Earwigs
    Sense id: en-earworm-en-noun-BDDd~5Kb Disambiguation of Earwigs: 27 31 42 Categories (other): English entries with language name categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 47 42 11
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: ear worm, ear-worm Derived forms: earwormy Related terms: brainworm, ear candy, earsore

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for earworm meaning in All languages combined (15.0kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "earwormy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ear",
        "3": "worm"
      },
      "expansion": "ear + worm",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Ohrwurm",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”)",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
      },
      "expansion": "²",
      "name": "sup"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ear + worm; senses 1 and 3 (“tune that keeps replaying in one’s head”; “earwig”) are a calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”) (from the idea of a creature burrowing into the ear, an erroneous belief where earwigs are concerned), while sense 2 (“moth larva”) refers to the fact that these pests infest, among other things, ears of maize or sweet corn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "earworms",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "earworm (plural earworms)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "ear‧worm"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "brainworm"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "ear candy"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "earsore"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 42 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, “Klymaxx: Meeting in the Ladies Room (Constellation, 1984)”, in Kim Cooper, David Smay, editors, Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 132",
          "text": "The chorus [of \"Meeting in the Ladies Room\" by Klymaxx] spawned an earworm so potent that women still mutter it as they exit for a bathroom break twenty years later.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Brain Stableford, chapter 2, in Kiss the Goat: A Twenty-first Century Ghost Story, Holicong, Pa.: Prime Books, pages 15–16",
          "text": "\"It's been haunting me,\" she said. / \"Yeah, well,\" he said, weakly. \"Sometimes tunes do that.\" [...] \"I don't mean that I heard it once before and caught an earworm. [...]\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, John Garate, “Tell a Story in Song”, in Stories from the Living Room: A Golden Heritage from the Old West, 2nd edition, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 81",
          "text": "My Mom has a special gift—or curse—depending on how you look at it. She suffers from ear worms. That's when you have songs runnin' around in your head and can't shut them off. All day long, at the ranch, Mom would go about her work, singin' and whistlin'.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Steve Goodman, “1971: The Earworm”, in Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction), Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press, page 147",
          "text": "Earworms are the virological vectors onto which sonic branding latches. [...] A commonly cited species within memetics, the earworm is the catchy tune that you cannot get out of your head, the vocal refrain, the infectious rhythm or the addictive riff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Nick Coleman, chapter 22, in The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss, Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, published 2013, page 236",
          "text": "She does not regard her ear-worms as anything other than an incidental irritant in her life. Unlike Jane, I have an ear-worm all the time – literally all the time – from the moment I wake up to the moment I zonk out; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Lauren Morrill, “Sloane Devon”, in Being Sloane Jacobs, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, page 256",
          "text": "And with the way he's turned our music into my own personal ear worm, I think I'm actually getting this artistry thing he keeps yammering on about.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted."
      ],
      "id": "en-earworm-en-noun-Raf2UJI6",
      "links": [
        [
          "tune",
          "tune#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "keeps",
          "keep#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "replaying",
          "replay#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "head",
          "head#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "thinking",
          "think#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "brainworm"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "耳蟲"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "ěrchóng",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "耳虫"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "ørehænger"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "oorwurm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "fo",
          "lang": "Faroese",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "landaplága"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "korvamato"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "päässä soiva kappale"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Ohrwurm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "dallamtapadás"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "tormentone"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "música chiclete"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "navjazčivaja melódija",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "навязчивая мело́дия"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "gd",
          "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "èist-bhèist"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "muzika u glavi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "melodía pegadiza"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "melodía pegajosa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "öronmask"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "ta",
          "lang": "Tamil",
          "roman": "kātuppuḻu",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "காதுப்புழு"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 2",
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
          "word": "sâu tai"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "(“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”).",
          "word": "corn earworm"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 52 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English endocentric compounds",
          "parents": [
            "Endocentric compounds",
            "Compound terms",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 50 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 42 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 63 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 55 18",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Noctuoid moths",
          "orig": "en:Noctuoid moths",
          "parents": [
            "Moths",
            "Insects",
            "Arthropods",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 50 17",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Sound",
            "Culture",
            "Energy",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1924 January–March, Martin V. Calvin, “Agricultural Research”, in Annual Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1923 (Quarterly Bulletin of the Georgia Department of Agriculture; serial no. 95), Atlanta, Ga.: Georgia Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 44",
          "text": "I had planned in mind to tell you [...] how I protected, that is, guaranteed, Evergreen sweet corn against the bud worm and the ear worm; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1929 June, F[red] C[ory] Bishopp, “Control Measures”, in The Bollworm or Corn Ear Worm as a Cotton Pest (U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1595), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 7",
          "text": "The number of bollworms or ear worms increases greatly as the season advances. This indicates a need for hastening the maturity of all crops affected.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952, C. M. Packard, John H. Martin, “Resistant Crops, the Ideal Way”, in Alfred Stefferud, editor, The Yearbook of Agriculture 1952: Insects, Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture; United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 434, column 1",
          "text": "Encouraging progress is being made, however, in the search for and utilization of earworm-resistant strains of both field and sweet corn. We mentioned the protection of ears from earworms, weevils, and grain moths by tight husks that extend beyond the tip of the ear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967 February, Victor L. Guzman et al., “Insects and Their Control”, in Sweet Corn Production on the Organic and Sandy Soils of Florida (Bulletin (Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Florida); no. 714), Gainesville, Fla.: Agricultural Experiment Stations, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, →OCLC, pages 27–28",
          "text": "The fall armyworm and the corn earworm attack sweet corn as earworms. [...] Although they may sometimes eat through the husk to attack the side of the ear, most earworms feed on the silks and enter through the silk channel to attack the tip of the ear. The earworm population may be almost completely composed of corn earworms or of fall armyworms, or of a mixture of the two species.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 October, C. S. Creighton, J. E. Halfhill, “Caterpillars and How They Damage Plants”, in Control of Caterpillars on Cabbage and Other Cole Crops (United States Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin; no. 2271), Washington, D.C.: Science and Education Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 10, column 2",
          "text": "A single earworm may seriously damage or destroy the bud of a cole crop plant, causing the plant to be disfigured or to produce several secondary buds. Earworms may disfigure the heads of cabbage plants by their feeding and tunneling [...].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, J. M. Fajemisin, S. K. Kim, Y. Efron, M. S. Alam, “Breeding for Durable Disease Resistance in Tropical Maize with Special Reference to Maize Streak Virus”, in Breeding for Durable Disease and Pest Resistance […] (FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper; 55), Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, published 1985, page 49",
          "text": "[I]nsects exert undesirable influence on tropical maize production, with stem borers, ear worms and weevils being the most ubiquitous groups.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Short for corn earworm (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”)."
      ],
      "id": "en-earworm-en-noun-FsPQG1Jl",
      "links": [
        [
          "corn earworm",
          "corn earworm#English"
        ],
        [
          "larva",
          "larva"
        ],
        [
          "moth",
          "moth"
        ],
        [
          "agricultural",
          "agricultural"
        ],
        [
          "pest",
          "pest"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally US) Short for corn earworm (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of"
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    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 42 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 31 42",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Earwigs",
          "orig": "en:Earwigs",
          "parents": [
            "Insects",
            "Arthropods",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, John Ogilvie, “Earwig”, in The Student’s English Dictionary, Etymological, Pronouncing, & Explanatory: […], London, Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, […], →OCLC, page 270, column 2",
          "text": "Earwig, [...] The ear-worm or grub, a well-known insect, with large transparent wings, which eats fruit and flower-leaves, and has been erroneously supposed to creep into the human brain through the ear; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1870, Alfred Vogel, translated by H. Raphael, A Practical Treatise of the Diseases of Children. […], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 435",
          "text": "Foreign Bodies in the Ear. [...] The ear-worm (forficula auricula), so much dreaded by people, occasions no special danger, but behaves in the ear in as harmless a manner as all other living animalcula of that calibre.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”)."
      ],
      "id": "en-earworm-en-noun-BDDd~5Kb",
      "links": [
        [
          "earwig",
          "earwig#English"
        ],
        [
          "insect",
          "insect"
        ],
        [
          "order",
          "order#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Dermaptera",
          "Dermaptera"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) An earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪəwɜːm/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪ(ə)ɹˌwɚm/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-earworm.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (RP)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "ear worm"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "ear-worm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "earworm"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English endocentric compounds",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms calqued from German",
    "English terms derived from German",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "en:Earwigs",
    "en:Music",
    "en:Noctuoid moths"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "earwormy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ear",
        "3": "worm"
      },
      "expansion": "ear + worm",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Ohrwurm",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”)",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
      },
      "expansion": "²",
      "name": "sup"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ear + worm; senses 1 and 3 (“tune that keeps replaying in one’s head”; “earwig”) are a calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”) (from the idea of a creature burrowing into the ear, an erroneous belief where earwigs are concerned), while sense 2 (“moth larva”) refers to the fact that these pests infest, among other things, ears of maize or sweet corn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "earworms",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "earworm (plural earworms)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "ear‧worm"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "brainworm"
    },
    {
      "word": "ear candy"
    },
    {
      "word": "earsore"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, “Klymaxx: Meeting in the Ladies Room (Constellation, 1984)”, in Kim Cooper, David Smay, editors, Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 132",
          "text": "The chorus [of \"Meeting in the Ladies Room\" by Klymaxx] spawned an earworm so potent that women still mutter it as they exit for a bathroom break twenty years later.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Brain Stableford, chapter 2, in Kiss the Goat: A Twenty-first Century Ghost Story, Holicong, Pa.: Prime Books, pages 15–16",
          "text": "\"It's been haunting me,\" she said. / \"Yeah, well,\" he said, weakly. \"Sometimes tunes do that.\" [...] \"I don't mean that I heard it once before and caught an earworm. [...]\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, John Garate, “Tell a Story in Song”, in Stories from the Living Room: A Golden Heritage from the Old West, 2nd edition, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 81",
          "text": "My Mom has a special gift—or curse—depending on how you look at it. She suffers from ear worms. That's when you have songs runnin' around in your head and can't shut them off. All day long, at the ranch, Mom would go about her work, singin' and whistlin'.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Steve Goodman, “1971: The Earworm”, in Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction), Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press, page 147",
          "text": "Earworms are the virological vectors onto which sonic branding latches. [...] A commonly cited species within memetics, the earworm is the catchy tune that you cannot get out of your head, the vocal refrain, the infectious rhythm or the addictive riff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Nick Coleman, chapter 22, in The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss, Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, published 2013, page 236",
          "text": "She does not regard her ear-worms as anything other than an incidental irritant in her life. Unlike Jane, I have an ear-worm all the time – literally all the time – from the moment I wake up to the moment I zonk out; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Lauren Morrill, “Sloane Devon”, in Being Sloane Jacobs, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, page 256",
          "text": "And with the way he's turned our music into my own personal ear worm, I think I'm actually getting this artistry thing he keeps yammering on about.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tune",
          "tune#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "keeps",
          "keep#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "replaying",
          "replay#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "head",
          "head#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "thinking",
          "think#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "brainworm"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "(“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”).",
          "word": "corn earworm"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English short forms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1924 January–March, Martin V. Calvin, “Agricultural Research”, in Annual Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1923 (Quarterly Bulletin of the Georgia Department of Agriculture; serial no. 95), Atlanta, Ga.: Georgia Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 44",
          "text": "I had planned in mind to tell you [...] how I protected, that is, guaranteed, Evergreen sweet corn against the bud worm and the ear worm; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1929 June, F[red] C[ory] Bishopp, “Control Measures”, in The Bollworm or Corn Ear Worm as a Cotton Pest (U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1595), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 7",
          "text": "The number of bollworms or ear worms increases greatly as the season advances. This indicates a need for hastening the maturity of all crops affected.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952, C. M. Packard, John H. Martin, “Resistant Crops, the Ideal Way”, in Alfred Stefferud, editor, The Yearbook of Agriculture 1952: Insects, Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture; United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 434, column 1",
          "text": "Encouraging progress is being made, however, in the search for and utilization of earworm-resistant strains of both field and sweet corn. We mentioned the protection of ears from earworms, weevils, and grain moths by tight husks that extend beyond the tip of the ear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967 February, Victor L. Guzman et al., “Insects and Their Control”, in Sweet Corn Production on the Organic and Sandy Soils of Florida (Bulletin (Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Florida); no. 714), Gainesville, Fla.: Agricultural Experiment Stations, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, →OCLC, pages 27–28",
          "text": "The fall armyworm and the corn earworm attack sweet corn as earworms. [...] Although they may sometimes eat through the husk to attack the side of the ear, most earworms feed on the silks and enter through the silk channel to attack the tip of the ear. The earworm population may be almost completely composed of corn earworms or of fall armyworms, or of a mixture of the two species.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 October, C. S. Creighton, J. E. Halfhill, “Caterpillars and How They Damage Plants”, in Control of Caterpillars on Cabbage and Other Cole Crops (United States Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin; no. 2271), Washington, D.C.: Science and Education Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 10, column 2",
          "text": "A single earworm may seriously damage or destroy the bud of a cole crop plant, causing the plant to be disfigured or to produce several secondary buds. Earworms may disfigure the heads of cabbage plants by their feeding and tunneling [...].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, J. M. Fajemisin, S. K. Kim, Y. Efron, M. S. Alam, “Breeding for Durable Disease Resistance in Tropical Maize with Special Reference to Maize Streak Virus”, in Breeding for Durable Disease and Pest Resistance […] (FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper; 55), Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, published 1985, page 49",
          "text": "[I]nsects exert undesirable influence on tropical maize production, with stem borers, ear worms and weevils being the most ubiquitous groups.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Short for corn earworm (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "corn earworm",
          "corn earworm#English"
        ],
        [
          "larva",
          "larva"
        ],
        [
          "moth",
          "moth"
        ],
        [
          "agricultural",
          "agricultural"
        ],
        [
          "pest",
          "pest"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally US) Short for corn earworm (“larva of the moths Helicoverpa zea (syn. Heliothis zea) and Helicoverpa armigera, which are agricultural pests”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, John Ogilvie, “Earwig”, in The Student’s English Dictionary, Etymological, Pronouncing, & Explanatory: […], London, Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, […], →OCLC, page 270, column 2",
          "text": "Earwig, [...] The ear-worm or grub, a well-known insect, with large transparent wings, which eats fruit and flower-leaves, and has been erroneously supposed to creep into the human brain through the ear; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1870, Alfred Vogel, translated by H. Raphael, A Practical Treatise of the Diseases of Children. […], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 435",
          "text": "Foreign Bodies in the Ear. [...] The ear-worm (forficula auricula), so much dreaded by people, occasions no special danger, but behaves in the ear in as harmless a manner as all other living animalcula of that calibre.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "earwig",
          "earwig#English"
        ],
        [
          "insect",
          "insect"
        ],
        [
          "order",
          "order#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Dermaptera",
          "Dermaptera"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) An earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪəwɜːm/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪ(ə)ɹˌwɚm/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-earworm.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-I_learned_some_phrases-earworm.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (RP)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "ear worm"
    },
    {
      "word": "ear-worm"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "耳蟲"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "ěrchóng",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "耳虫"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "ørehænger"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "oorwurm"
    },
    {
      "code": "fo",
      "lang": "Faroese",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "landaplága"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "korvamato"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "päässä soiva kappale"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Ohrwurm"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "dallamtapadás"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "tormentone"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "música chiclete"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "navjazčivaja melódija",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "навязчивая мело́дия"
    },
    {
      "code": "gd",
      "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "èist-bhèist"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "muzika u glavi"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "melodía pegadiza"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "melodía pegajosa"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "öronmask"
    },
    {
      "code": "ta",
      "lang": "Tamil",
      "roman": "kātuppuḻu",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "காதுப்புழு"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "tune that keeps replaying in one's head",
      "word": "sâu tai"
    }
  ],
  "word": "earworm"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.