Word of the Day

: November 12, 2023

bugbear

noun BUG-bair

What It Means

A bugbear is a source of dread or irritation; in other words, something that causes problems or annoys people.

// The biggest bugbear of the skiing business is a winter with no snow.

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bugbear in Context

“When faced with the prospect of any kind of online regulation, social media companies, old-school internet idealists and free-market zealots ring the same two alarm bells: Regulation will stifle free speech and impede tech innovation. For the past couple of decades or so, these twin bugbears have scared away legislators from imposing regulation with real teeth. But these arguments have multiple flaws. Social media companies are not absolute protectors of free speech and already impose limits on the speech they distribute. Nor are they the only innovative businesses subject to regulation.” — Nancy Kim, The Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2022

Did You Know?

Just as peanuts are neither peas nor nuts (they are legumes), bugbears are neither bugs nor bears, but a secret, third thing. Not so secret that we won’t share it with you, however. Let’s start with the bug in bugbear, which refers not to an insect, but instead comes from the Middle English word bugge. This bugge was used for all kinds of imaginary spooky creatures—from ghosts and goblins to scarecrows—that cause fright or dread. In the 1500s this bug was combined with bear (as in the animal) to form bugbear, even though there is little evidence that either a bug or bugbear took an ursine form. In fact, based on its earliest known uses, bugbear began as an all-purpose word for things that cause fear or dread, not just supernatural beasties. This sense is still in use today, alongside the closely related sense of “a continuing source of irritation or annoyance.” Use of the “hobgoblin” sense of bugbear appears to have begun slightly later, though it, too, persists to the present day, notably as the name of a hulking creature in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.