Sphex

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of solitary digging wasp that paralyzes insects to provide food for its young in underground burrows
2. A genus of wasps whose members dig nests in the ground and stock them with paralyzed prey for their larvae
3. Digger wasps of the genus Sphex, which hunt and immobilize insects as provisions for their offspring

Etymology: The name belongs to a genus of solitary digger wasps, and the story starts with a Greek word that simply meant "wasp." In ancient Greek, "sphēx" (plural "sphēkes") referred to the wasp, and the modern scientific name was built from that root by taxonomists who needed a Latinized label for the group. The plural "spheges" is likely a borrowing from the Latin "Sphēgēs," a form that reached English through classical scholarship rather than everyday speech. The Greek word has a second life in English. Because the genus was named for its wasps, the same root gave rise to "sphecid," the adjective and family name for these insects. Entomologists still use the term for members of the family Sphecidae, which includes many species that paralyse prey such as spiders, caterpillars and crickets to feed their young. The name is therefore a straightforward act of classification: an ancient word for wasp, pressed into service as a label for one particular branch of the wasp family tree.