From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishearwigear‧wig /ˈɪəˌwɪɡ $ ˈɪr-/ noun [countable] HBIa long brown insect with two curved pointed parts at the back end of its body
Examples from the Corpus
earwig• When I was nine I tried, unsuccessfully, to stop some boys drowning an earwig.• Probably scream if an earwig crawled into the sleeping-bag - and that was the other thing.• There were no earwigs in the Scarinish Hotel bedroom, just two flies and a moth.• The next day when the pinecones were collected up they were full of earwigs.• Gardener's Tips Earwig Traps Quite by accident we have found a good way to trapping earwigs.• One sufferer nearly died after gulping two earwigs. 16.Origin earwig Old English earwicga “ear-insect”; because it used to be believed that these insects get into people's ears 