Advertisement

weevil (n.)

Old English wifel "small beetle," from Proto-Germanic *webilaz (source also of Old Saxon wibil, Old High German wibil, German Wiebel "beetle, chafer," Old Norse tordyfill "dung beetle"), cognate with Lithuanian vabalas "beetle," from PIE root *(h)uebh- "to weave," also "to move quickly" (see weave (v.)). The sense gradually narrowed by 15c. to a particular kind of beetle that, in larval or adult stages, bores into plants, often destroying them.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of weevil from WordNet

weevil (n.)
any of several families of mostly small beetles that feed on plants and plant products; especially snout beetles and seed beetles;
From wordnet.princeton.edu