earworm

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɪəwɜːm/
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• Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: /ˈɪ(ə)ɹˌwɚm/
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From ear + worm; senses 1 and 3 (“tune that keeps replaying in one’s head”; “earwig”) are a calque of German Ohrwurm (“tune that pops up in one’s memory all the time; earwig”) (from the idea of a creature burrowing into the ear, an erroneous belief where earwigs are concerned), while sense 2 (“moth larva”) refers to the fact that these pests infest, among other things, ears of maize or sweet corn.

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 耳蟲 /耳虫 (ěrchóng) — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Danish: ørehænger — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Dutch: oorwurm — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Faroese: landaplága — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Finnish: korvamato — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Finnish: päässä soiva kappale — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• French: ver d’oreille — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• German: Ohrwurm — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Hungarian: dallamtapadás — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Italian: tormentone — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Japanese: イヤーワーム (iyāwāmu) — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Portuguese: música chiclete — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Portuguese: chiclete — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Russian: навязчивая мело́дия (navjazčivaja melódija) — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Scottish Gaelic: èist-bhèist — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Serbo-Croatian: muzika u glavi — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Spanish: gusano auditivo — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Spanish: gusano cerebral — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Swedish: öronmask — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Tamil: காதுப்புழு (kātuppuḻu) — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Turkish: kulak kurdu — tune that keeps replaying in one's head
• Vietnamese: sâu tai — tune that keeps replaying in one's head