Bug

/bʌɡ/ noun

Definition

A bug is a small insect or, more generally, any tiny creature like a beetle or ant. In computing, a bug is a mistake or flaw in a program that makes it work incorrectly.

Etymology

From Middle English “bugge,” meaning “scarecrow” or “bogey,” something frightening. The insect meaning developed later, and the computer sense became popular after a real moth was found causing a problem in an early computer.

Kelly Says

The first famous computer “bug” was literally a dead moth stuck in hardware in 1947. A spooky word for a monster slowly shrank into a term for tiny insects and then for invisible digital gremlins in code.

Related Words

Explore More Words

Get the Word Orb API

Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.