murder hornet

English edit

Etymology edit

Calque of Japanese 殺人スズメバチ (literally “murder hornet”), from 殺人 (satsujin, “さつじん”)+スズメバチ (suzumebachi, “雀蜂”), equivalent to murder +‎ hornet. From its ability to kill people through its painful venomous stings, which can pierce through most regular beekeeper suits, killing some dozens of people a year in Japan; and its propensity for killing off honeybee colonies.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Noun edit

murder hornet (plural murder hornets)

(informal) Synonym of Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) [since at least 2013] ^{(See discussion)}
- 2017 January 1, “The Asian Giant Hornet, The Bee-Decapitating Hornet That Is The Stuff Of Nightmares”, in All That's Interesting‎^[1]:
  Their murderous rampages on bee colonies have earned them the nickname ‘murder hornets’ from entomologists.
- 2020, "Deadly Hornet Massacres a Mouse on Video, They're Huge", TMZ
  It's unclear if this is, in fact, a murder hornet
- 2020, "The murder hornet is the 2020 B-plot you probably didn’t see coming", Kim Lyons, The Verge
  Some days the news is upbeat and interesting and then other days the writers of the script for 2020: The Horror Show throw in a murder hornet plot twist because a pandemic is apparently not terrifying enough without two-inch hornets that rip the heads off of honeybees.
- 2020, "Murder Hornets Are In Canada Because 2020 Just Keeps On Going", Sima Shakeri, Huffington Post
  The New York Times reported about the hornets on Saturday that shared graphic details of the piles of honeybee corpses left behind after murder hornets infiltrated their hives.
- 2020, " "Murder hornets" have now entered the U.S. — and they could decimate the honeybee population ", Li Cohen, CBS News
  But murder hornets become most dangerous from late summer to early fall, when they ravage through honey bee populations.
- 2021 March 17, Maria Morava, Scottie Andrew, “Murder hornet season is around the corner”, in CNN.com‎^[2]:
  Winter is on its way out. The days are getting longer, vaccinations are ramping up and an end to the pandemic could be in sight. But murder hornets don't care about any of that.

Translations edit

colloquial terms for Asian giant hornet

Finnish: tappajaherhiläinen
Japanese: 殺人スズメバチ

References edit

CNN, "Murder hornets??!! Twitter is freaking out", Alaa Elassar, 4 May 2020

^ New York Times, "‘Murder Hornets’ in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet", Mike Baker, 2 May 2020
^ Toronto Star, "They hunted and destroyed a nest of ‘murder hornets.’ This B.C. couple says the buzz — and the threat — is real", Alex McKeen, 4 May 2020
^ Global News, "‘Murder hornet’: Asian invader is death on wings for bees in Canada, U.S.", Josh K. Elliott, 4 May 2020
^ CNN, "Invasive giant hornets have been spotted in the US for the first time", Faith Karimi, 3 May 2020

[1] New York Times, "‘Murder Hornets’ in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet", Mike Baker, 2 May 2020

[2] Toronto Star, "They hunted and destroyed a nest of ‘murder hornets.’ This B.C. couple says the buzz — and the threat — is real", Alex McKeen, 4 May 2020

[3] Global News, "‘Murder hornet’: Asian invader is death on wings for bees in Canada, U.S.", Josh K. Elliott, 4 May 2020

[4] CNN, "Invasive giant hornets have been spotted in the US for the first time", Faith Karimi, 3 May 2020

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