maggot

Plural: maggots

Noun

A legless larva of various insects, typically found in decaying matter.
the larva of the housefly and blowfly commonly found in decaying organic matter
A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.
A worthless person.
A whimsy or fancy.
A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

Verb

To rid (an animal) of maggots.

Adj

Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”).

Examples

Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
Even a word like MAGGOT can be a strategic play if it lands on a triple letter score.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English magot, magat, maked, probably a metathetic alteration of maddock, maðek (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Proto-West Germanic *maþō, from Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask, Icelandic maðkur (“worm, grub, maggot”).
The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in their brain.

Synonyms

grub

Scrabble Score: 10

maggot: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
maggot: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
maggot: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

maggot: valid Words With Friends Word