different between maggot vs magot

English

Etymology

From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Frankish *maþ?, from common Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made +? -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.

The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in his or her brain.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?g'?t, IPA^(key): /?mæ??t/

Noun

maggot (plural maggots)

1. A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter. [from 15th c.]
2. (derogatory) A worthless person. [from 17th c.]

   Drop and give me fifty, maggot.

3. (now archaic, regional) A whimsy or fancy. [from 17th c.]
   • 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv.

     Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?

   • 1778, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 100:

     ‘I am ashamed of him! how can he think of humouring you in such maggots!’
4. (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

Synonyms

• (soft legless larva): grub

Derived terms

Related terms

• mawk
• mawkish

Translations

English

Etymology

From French

Noun

magot (plural magots)

1. (archaic) The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco along with a small population of uncertain origin in Gibraltar.
   • 1800, The Lady's Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex (volume 31, page 16)

     The magot differs from the ape by having a long muzzle and large canine teeth; and from the baboon by having no actual tail; though it has an exuberance of skin which bears that appearance.

2. (art) A seated oriental figurine, usually of porcelain or ivory, of a grotesque form

Anagrams

• AMGOT

French

Etymology

Unknown/uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.?o/

Noun

magot m (plural magots)

1. (colloquial) pile (of money), hoard
2. a commercial agent

Further reading

• “magot” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Alternative forms

• magat, maked

Etymology

Variant of maddok by metathesis.

Noun

magot (plural magots)

1. a maggot, bedbug

Descendants

• English: maggot
• Yola: maghogès (plural)

References

• “magot, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

magot m (plural magots)

1. (Jersey) maggot

Romanian

Etymology

From French magot.

Noun

magot m (plural mago?i)

1. magot

Declension

Volapük

Noun

magot (nominative plural magots)

1. statue

Declension