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ant

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ant¹

  • /ænt/ US, UK
  • [ɛənt]
  • [eənt]
  • [ɛːnt]
  • /æːnt/ Australia
  • /ant/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /ɛnt/ New Zealand
  • /ɑːnt/ dialectal

Sounds like aunt (in some accents) · Rhymes with -ænt

Where it comes from

From Middle English ampte, amte, amete, amote, ante, emete, emot, emotte, empt, empte, from Old English ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte, ǣmætte (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (“ant”), of uncertain and debated origin (q.v.), but probably from Proto-Germanic *ē- (“off, away”) + *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂y- (“to cut”). See also emmet.

Cognates

Cognate with Yola emotee, emothee (“ant”), West Frisian eamel, eamelder, eameler (“ant”), Alemannic German Ameisse (“ant”), Bavarian Åmasn, Åmeisn (“ant”), Cimbrian amasa (“ant”), Dutch emt (“ant”), German Ameise, Emse (“ant”), Low German Emk (“ant”), Vilamovian ömys (“ant”), Yiddish אַמייזע (ameyze, “ant”).

noun ants · ante · ampte

  1. Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females. The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters […]. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna. That would be the frozen chicatanas – giant winged ants – at around

    Similar: emmet, pismire, antmire, anty-mire

  2. Internet A Web spider.

verb ants · anting · anted · ante · ampte

  1. To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean feathers. Wild birds tend to ant and sunbathe most frequently during periods of high humidity, particularly right after heavy or prolonged rainfall in summer.

Ant²

Rhymes with -ænt

Where it comes from

Shortening.

proper noun

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Anthony, from Latin.
  2. A river in Norfolk, England, tributary to the Bure.
  3. The 27th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
  4. Internet Anthropic (American artificial intelligence company) if ant and oai IPO in 2026 there will be no permanent underclass. the IPO of the labs is one of the best things that can happen for average person's economic future* ¶ *unless it's a bubble lol

    Similar: Anth

ANT³

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Afghanistan National Television

noun ANTs

  1. US, abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of Aids to Navigation Team, as used in the United States Coast Guard.
  2. abbreviation, countable, uncountable Abbreviation of actor–network theory
  3. abbreviation, acronym, countable, uncountable Acronym of ambiguous nuclear transient

Translations

Every language

noun insect

Españolhormiga, huasho, shishi
한국어개미 gaemi
日本語蟻 ari, アリ ari
中文螞蟻 /蚂蚁 mǎyǐ
हिन्दीचींटी cī̃ṭī, चिऊँटी ciū̃ṭī
Kiswahilisisimizi, siafu
Portuguêsformiga
Françaisfourmi
DeutschAmeise
Italianoformica
Ελληνικάμυρμήγκι myrmígki
Românăfurnică
Русскиймураве́й muravéj, мура́шка muráška, мураве́ль muravélʹ
Tiếng Việtkiến
العربيةنَمْل naml, نَمْلَة namla, شَيْصَبَان šayṣabān
עבריתנְמָלָה nemalá

name 27th sura of the Qur'an

한국어개미 gaemi
العربيةسورة النمل

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Cite this
MLA

"ant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ant. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ant. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ant

Chicago

"ant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ant.

BibTeX
@misc{ant_2026,
  title = {ant},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ant},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}