Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mealworm

/ˈmiːlˌwɜː(ɹ)m/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.53 in modern English

Syllables: meal-worm
IPA: /ˈmiːlˌwɜː(ɹ)m/

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The larval stage of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), a species of darkling beetle.

noun

This or any other larva that looks similar and is found in similar circumstances (i.e., in meal, in flour, in food, in the pantry, in feed, in the feedroom), such as the larva of a mealmoth (flour moth).

Informal

Example Sentences

"We buy mealworms to supplement our chickens' feed ration, and they do some scratching in the yard to find other bugs too."
"Near-synonym: waxworm"
"They'd seen a few mealmoths and mealworms in recent days, and then they figured out that the cornflakes in the pantry were the source of the problem."

Etymology

From meal + worm.

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

mealworms (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

mealworm beetle

Synonyms

waxworm

Questions

How do you pronounce mealworm?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmiːlˌwɜː(ɹ)m/.
What does mealworm mean?: The larval stage of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), a species of darkling beetle.
Where does mealworm come from?: From meal + worm.

How to pronounce mealworm

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mealworm”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmiːlˌwɜː(ɹ)m/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mealworm”.
Repeat and practice — Say “mealworm” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.