虫むし

noun

insect; bug; small crawling or flying creature

A broad everyday word for insects and many small creatures people casually call bugs; it can include crickets, moths, and similar creatures without strict biological precision.

• 庭にわで見みたことのない虫むしを見みつけた。

  I found a bug in the garden that I had never seen before.

• 秋あきになると、夜よるに虫むしの声こえが聞きこえる。

  In autumn, you can hear the chirping of insects at night.

noun

worm; roundworm; intestinal worm

Used broadly for worm-like creatures and parasitic worms; it is less technical than terms such as 寄生虫 or 回虫.

• 検けん査さで犬いぬのお腹なかに虫むしがいると分わかった。

  The test showed that the dog had worms in its stomach.

noun

inner impulse; unconscious feeling; mood-influencing inner presence

Figurative use rooted in the traditional idea of an internal 'insect' affecting feelings, instincts, or moods. It appears mostly in idioms such as 虫が知らせる, 虫の居所が悪い, and 虫を殺す.

See also: 虫を殺す

• 虫むしが知しらせたのか、急きゅうに母ははに電でん話わしたくなった。

  Maybe it was a premonition, but I suddenly felt like calling my mother.

• 虫むしの居い所どころが悪わるいのか、今日きょうは部ぶ長ちょうがずっと不ふ機き嫌げんだ。

  The department head seems to be in a bad mood today, as if something is bothering him.

noun

fretfulness; nervous irritability

Old-fashioned or folk-expression use, especially in phrases like 癇の虫, referring to a child's fretfulness, nervousness, or irritability rather than a literal insect.

See also: 虫気

• 子こどもは癇かんの虫むしが強つよく、ちょっとしたことで泣なき出だした。

  The child was very fretful and started crying over the smallest thing.

noun

person devoted to one thing; single-minded enthusiast

Used after a noun in expressions such as 本の虫 or 仕事の虫, meaning someone absorbed in or devoted to that one thing.

See also: 本の虫

• 妹いもうとは本ほんの虫むしで、休やすみの日ひもずっと読よんでいる。

  My younger sister is a bookworm and reads all day even on her days off.

• 彼かれは仕し事ごとの虫むしと言いわれるほど働はたらく。

  He works so much that people call him a workaholic.

noun

valve core

Mechanical term for the small core part of a valve, especially in contexts such as bicycle tire valves. This is a specialized sense unrelated to insects.

• 自じ転てん車しゃのバルブの虫むしを交こう換かんしたら、空くう気き漏もれが止とまった。

  After I replaced the bicycle valve core, the air leak stopped.

noun

mushi; hanafuda game with a stripped deck

Only with reading むし

Specialized hanafuda term for a type of game played with a reduced or stripped deck; this sense is usually written in kana.

See also: 虫札

• 花はな札ふだの「むし」は、札ふだを抜ぬいた特とく殊しゅな遊あそび方かただ。

  Mushi in hanafuda is a special way of playing with some cards removed.