- vermin (n.)
- c. 1300, "noxious animals," from Anglo-French and Old French vermin "moth, worm, mite," in plural "troublesome creatures" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *verminum "vermin," possibly including bothersome insects, collective noun formed from Latin vermis "worm" (see worm (n.)). Extended to "low, obnoxious people" by 1560s.
