water bug
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtər bʌɡ/
- US
:
cucaracha de agua
- Many apartment dwellers are familiar with water bugs skittering across the kitchen floor at night.
Examples
-
We called an exterminator after spotting several water bugs in the bathroom.
-
Unlike typical cockroaches, water bugs are smaller and light brown in color.
-
I found a water bug in the kitchen last night.
-
The water bug scurried across the floor.
-
Many apartment dwellers are familiar with water bugs skittering across the kitchen floor at night.
-
We called an exterminator after spotting several water bugs in the bathroom.
-
Unlike typical cockroaches, water bugs are smaller and light brown in color.
Synonyms
623
1.0
A small insect like an ant or beetle
140
1.0
A flat brown or black insect that comes out at night and lives in kitchens and houses
87
1.4
A common brown insect that lives in houses and eats food
A small light brown cockroach that lives in homes and is a pest
A small light brown cockroach that often lives in kitchens and bathrooms in houses
A small light-brown cockroach that lives in homes and kitchens
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'water bug' is directly compositional: it denotes a 'bug' associated with 'water', so a learner who knows 'water' and 'bug' can infer an aquatic insect. This noun+noun modification pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English compounding, making the meaning immediately accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun water bug may come from people finding small, light-brown cockroaches in wet places like sinks and bathrooms. Because the bug was often near water, people started to call it a water bug, so today the word usually means a small household 'pest'.