different between bug vs buzzkill

English

Etymology

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), a conflation of two words:

1. Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)). Perhaps originally from a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped specter.
2. Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see s?earnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.

The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?g, IPA^(key): /b??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Hyphenation: bug

Noun

bug (plural bugs)

1. (entomology) An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”).
2. Any of various species of marine or freshwater crustaceans; e.g. a Moreton Bay bug, mudbug.
3. (informal) Any insect, arachnid, or other terrestrial arthropod that is a pest.

4. (US) Any insect, arachnid, myriapod or entognath.
5. (Britain, obsolete, specifically) A bedbug.
   • 1874, Henry Sampson, A history of advertising (page 278)

     Speaking of advertising changes of name, a title by which those lodging-house pests, bugs, are now often known, that of Norfolk Howards, is derived from an advertisement in which one Ephraim Bug avowed his intention of being for the future known as Norfolk Howard.

7. (chiefly computing and engineering jargon) A problem that needs fixing.

   Synonyms: defect, glitch
8. A contagious illness; a bacterium or virus causing it

9. (informal) An enthusiasm for something; an obsession.

10. (informal) A keen enthusiast or hobbyist.
    • 1961, Kiplinger's Personal Finance (volume 15, number 12, page 34)

      Incidentally, the camera manufacturers have had a new worry—that they might "kill off the hobby," as U.S. Camera magazine put it recently—by automating to the point that real camera bugs would feel no challenge.

11. A concealed electronic eavesdropping or intercept device

12. A small and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.

13. (broadcasting) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to identify the broadcasting network or cable channel.

14. (aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments.
    • 2004, Flying Magazine (volume 131, number 10, page 10)

      You look up the proper speed for the phase of flight, set the reminder bug, and then literally forget the speed. You don't read the airspeed number, you fly to the bug.

15. A semi-automated telegraph key.
16. (obsolete) Hobgoblin, scarecrow; anything that terrifies. [late 14th c.–early 17th. c]

    Synonyms: bog, bogey, bogle, boggle, boggard, bugbear
17. (chiefly LGBT, "the bug") HIV.
    • 2019, Tora Holmberg, Annika Jonsson, Fredrik Palm, Death Matters: Cultural Sociology of Mortal Life, Springer (?ISBN), page 130:

      The arguably most debated bareback practice that came to attract attention early on (and still does) was that of “bug chasing,” in which HIV-negative men (bug chasers) actively seek out sex with HIV-positive men (gift givers).

18. (poker) A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.
19. (paleontology, slang) A trilobite.
    • 2007, Kirk Johnson, Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, p. 174:

      We asked Harris if he had any recommendations about seeing the famous trilobite digs. He said we should just drive out to his claim in the Wheeler Quadrangle, and it was just fine with him if we dug a few bugs.

20. (petroleum industry, slang, dated) Synonym of oil bug
    • July 1933, Popular Science:

      Now, only three years later, most of the major oil companies maintain staffs of these men who examine cores, classify the various types of "bugs," or foraminifera, and make charts showing the depths at which each of the hundreds of types is found.

21. (slang, US, horse-racing) An asterisk denoting an apprentice jockey's weight allowance.
    • 1999, Anita Scialli, Inside Track 1999 (page 62)

      The “bugs” are the asterisks next to the apprentice's name. One bug is a five-pound allowance, two bugs equal seven pounds, and three bugs equal ten pounds.

22. (slang, US, horse-racing, by extension) A young apprentice jockey.

    Synonym: bug boy

23. (printing) Synonym of union bug
24. (gambling, slang) A small piece of metal used in a slot machine to block certain winning combinations.
    • 1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling (page 394)

      Because many illegal slot-machine operators here and abroad do not like to give the slot-machine player even one chance to hit the jackpot or the big bonus, they make use of a "bug." This is a small, flat half-circle of iron about an inch long, which looks something like a bug.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to “bug”: major, minor, serious, critical, nasty, annoying, important, strange, stupid, flying, silly.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bug (third-person singular simple present bugs, present participle bugging, simple past and past participle bugged)

1. (informal, transitive) To annoy.

2. (transitive) To install an electronic listening device or devices in.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:annoy

Derived terms

• bug out

Translations

References

Further reading

• Hemiptera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hemiptera on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Hemiptera on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Software bug on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• gub

Catalan

Etymology

English bug

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buk/, /bak/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

   Synonyms: error, defecte

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse búkr, from Proto-Germanic *b?kaz, cognate wtih Norwegian, Swedish buk, German Bauch, Dutch buik.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu???/, [?b?u?]

Noun

bug c (singular definite bugen, plural indefinite buge)

1. belly (the lower part the body of an animal or, by analogy, an aircraft)
2. abdomen, abdominal cavity (the lower inner part of a human body)

   Synonym: mave

3. (informal) belly, paunch (a large protruding belly)

   Synonyms: mave, vom

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??/, /b??/
• Hyphenation: bug

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) A bug (a software problem).

French

Alternative forms

• (computing) bogue

Etymology

English bug

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bœ?/, /b??/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (slang) bug (problem, especially in computing)

Derived terms

• buguer

Karipúna Creole French

Etymology

From French bougre (“chap, guy”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bu?/

Noun

bug

1. boy (young male human)

References

• 1987, Alfred W. Tobler, Dicionário Crioulo Karipúna/Português Português/Crioulo Karípúna, Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 5.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English bug.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?b??/, /?b?.?i/, /?bu?/, /?bu.?i/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug (error in a program’s functioning)

   Synonyms: defeito, falha, erro

2. (slang) anything causing unusual behaviour

Derived terms

• bugado
• bugar

Spanish

Etymology

English bug

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba?/, /bo?/, /bu?/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug

   Synonyms: fallo, defecto

English

Etymology

buzz +? kill. See buzz (“feeling of energy or excitement”).

Pronunciation

Noun

buzzkill (plural buzzkills)

1. (slang) Something that or someone who spoils an otherwise enjoyable event.
2. (slang) A person who attends a social event and occupies his or her time with unsociable activities.

Synonyms

• (something or someone who spoils an enjoyable event): dampener, killjoy, wet blanket, (person), party-pooper (person); see also Thesaurus:spoilsport