digger wasp
- noun
- /ˈdɪɡər wɑsp/
:
avispa excavadora
- In the garden, I spotted a digger wasp transporting a paralyzed caterpillar back to its nest.
Examples
-
Interestingly, the great golden digger wasp, a close relative of the cicada killer, does not have enlarged spurs and digs only with its forelegs.
Academic text (2002) -
The digger wasp carefully dug a nest in the soil, preparing to store food for its young.
-
One glimpse of the station was enough; the great golden digger wasp dead in a cream pitcher on my desk simply interests me more than television.
Fiction book (1991) -
After watching a digger wasp, I learned how it paralyzes insects to feed its larvae.
Synonyms
45
1.0
A flying insect like a bee with a narrow waist and a sting, often yellow and black
1
9.9
A group of solitary wasps that dig nests in the ground and hunt insects for their young
A wasp that digs holes and brings caterpillars for its young
A family of solitary wasps like mud daubers that build nests
A solitary wasp that digs burrows and hunts other insects
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'digger' (one who digs) + 'wasp' yields a wasp that digs or excavates, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a type of wasp that digs nests. This noun–noun formation is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, making the meaning immediately predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The name digger wasp comes from a simple picture: the female digger wasp digs tunnels in the ground and pulls paralyzed insects into the nest for her eggs. That is why the name means a wasp that 'digs' and keeps food 'to feed its young'.