moth

English moth comes from Middle English moth, moththe, motthe, itself from Old English moþþe, mohþe, mohþa. That traces back through Proto-West Germanic *moþþā to Proto-Germanic *maþô, meaning insect, worm, or maggot, and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root for 'worm.'

The word has stayed remarkably close to its old meaning — Old English speakers already used it for a small crawling or flying pest, a sense that hasn't drifted far in a thousand years.

It shares its Proto-Germanic root with Dutch mot, German Motte, Swedish mott, and Norwegian Nynorsk mott — all still meaning 'moth' in their own languages today.