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Added 9 October 2026

spider

/ˈspaɪ̯də/ noun

In Latin: arānea, arāneus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about spider at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey.
A program which follows links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
A float (drink) made by mixing ice-cream and a soda or fizzy drink (such as lemonade).

verb

To move like a spider.
To cover a surface like a cobweb.
To follow links on the World Wide Web in order to gather information.
The online dictionary is regularly spidered by search engines.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English spithre, spider, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term. Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *mězgyrь (whence Russian мизги́рь (mizgírʹ)) (akin to Latvian mežģīt), Turkish örümcek (akin to örmek).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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