giant hornet

noun

plural giant hornets

1

: european hornet

European hornets, also called giant hornets, can damage plants by stripping bark to build their paper nests.

—Forsyth County News (Cumming, Georgia)

2

: northern giant hornet

The giant hornet extends about 3.5 to 3.9 centimeters in length (1.4 to 1.5 inches), roughly the size of a human thumb, and it has a black tooth used for burrowing, according to an animal database at the University of Michigan. The queens are even bigger, with bodies that can grow longer than 5 centimeters (2 inches).

—Madison Park et al.

Examples of giant hornet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Neither northern nor southern giant hornets have been found in Europe beyond the four documented in Spain. —Randi Richardson, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2024

Georgia and South Carolina are fending off the invasion of the yellow-legged hornet, a smaller relative of the giant hornet that also makes quick work of local pollinators. —Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Dec. 2024

These giant hornets can be very deadly to humans, and can also wreak enormous damage to honeybee hives. —Paul Hsieh, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2024

Sven Spichiger, Washington State Department of Agriculture managing entomologist, displays a canister of Asian giant hornets vacuumed from a nest in a tree behind him on Oct. 24, 2020, in Blaine, Washington. —Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2024

Moreover, giant hornets are known for their grisly methods for bee murder—unfortunate beekeepers have found their hives filled with bee carcasses, the heads ripped from their bodies. —Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Dec. 2024

The hornets, typically 2 inches (5 cm) long, were first called Asian giant hornets, the Associated Press reports, citing the National Institutes of Health. —Charna Flam, People.com, 19 Dec. 2024

The hornets, previously called Asian giant hornets, first showed up in British Columbia in August 2019, then in Washington state in December 2019. —Melissa Santos, Axios, 18 Dec. 2024

The organization also adopted the names Southern giant hornet as the name for a closely related species. —Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for giant hornet

• cornett