wasp
n.
Old English wæps, wæsp "wasp," altered (probably by influence of Latin vespa) from Proto-Germanic *wabis- (cognates: Old Saxon waspa, Middle Dutch wespe, Dutch wesp, Old High German wafsa, German Wespe, Danish hveps), from PIE *wopsa-/*wospa- "wasp" (cognates: Latin vespa, Lithuanian vapsa, Old Church Slavonic vosa "wasp," Old Irish foich "drone"), perhaps from *webh- "weave" (see weave, v.). If that is the correct derivation, the insect would be so called for the shape of its nest. Of persons with wasp-like tendencies, from c.1500. Wasp-waist in reference to women's figures is recorded from 1870 (wasp-waisted is from 1775).