Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Debris or excrement produced by insects.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The excrement of a larval insect.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The droppings or excrement of insects.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German, feed, result of eating, insect damage, from Middle High German vrâz, from Old High German frāz, from frezzan, to eat; see ed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old High German fraz, from Old High German frezzan (German fressen), to eat.

Support

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Examples

  • Over here, we are celebrating what chewed leaves, in this particular case, chewed tomato leaves, turn into: frass, that is, insect shit.

    Oh, frass! AYDIN 2008

  • Yes, caterpillar shit is called frass, and yes, it's derived from fressen.

    languagehat.com: Q.PHEEVR ON 'BUTTERFLY.' 2005

  • Over here, we are celebrating what chewed leaves, in this particular case, chewed tomato leaves, turn into: frass, that is, insect shit.

    SNAIL'S TALES 2008

  • (or more specifically called frass) coming out of them.

    Apartment Therapy Main 2008

  • As one of the elite group of people who know the meaning of 'frass', my husband just about died laughing at the scene in the movieSideways where our two heros drive into the all-smoke-no-fire vineyard 'Frass Canyon'.

    languagehat.com: Q.PHEEVR ON 'BUTTERFLY.' 2005

  • But in those two classes, no one ever mentioned the word "frass".

    May Dreams Gardens 2010

  • I've been looking for opportunities all week to use "frass" in a sentence …

    May Dreams Gardens 2010

  • First of all, you should know that "frass" is the technical (and very nice, I think) word for "insect pooh."

    Museum Blogs 2009

  • While we're on the bedroom theme, consider: If your pillow is six years old (the average age of a pillow, according to Mr. Bryson) "one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living and dead mites, and mite dung — or frass, as it is known to entomologists."

    Brass Beds and Broomsticks Meghan Cox Gurdon 2010

  • Simcox only knew they were there by the frass – black pellets of caterpillar poo – that falls from the thyme.

    Butterflies: out of the blue 2010

  • The first task of the evening involved cleaning the shit—or, more politely, frass—out of the vials, a practice Wagner referred to as “mucking the stalls.”

    The Little-Known World of Caterpillars Condé Nast 2023

Comments

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  • insect poop

    February 23, 2007

  • EEW. Why does insect poop need a word?!

    February 23, 2007

  • Yes, but let's be fair--it does *sound* better than "insect poop."

    February 23, 2007

  • Ooo! I will use this when I teach my cricket unit in September. *That* is why it needs a name.

    April 28, 2007

  • See? Precisely! *triumphant*

    April 28, 2007

  • Alas, the insect unit is actually in October, but I *will* be using this word tomorrow. :)

    October 3, 2007

  • Glad to hear it! Man, you have a good memory. I'd have forgotten all about it by now.

    October 3, 2007

  • I first heard this word used when an exterminator was scouting out my carpenter ant infestation. I got the impression that it also includes sundry debris like bits of nesting material.

    October 4, 2007

  • Oh, now come on. That's complete frass.

    (note: not really)

    October 4, 2007

  • I actually came across this word while reading: "Stephen took a piece of biscuit, tapping it mechanically, brushed away the weevil-frass, and said..."

    (O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 90)

    March 14, 2008

  • How cool is that, when your specific excrement interest and your O' Brian interest intersect!!

    But really, weevil-frass in the biscuit-jar?? EEWW!

    March 14, 2008

  • Then again, weevil-frass is rather fun to say.

    Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass.

    March 14, 2008

  • No frass this year. I've been demoted to mold.

    November 4, 2008

  • But look on the bright side, jenn--fungi can be fun!

    November 4, 2008

  • She was a fastidious lass

    Who never would picnic on grass.

    Why dine on the lawn

    Where vile insects spawn

    And frolic in heaps of their frass?

    Also, I repost here a limerick (a rather long-legged variant) I posted to the specific-excrement list on June 17, 2014. I would hate to see the literature of frass go uncollected.

    Philosophers know all things must pass.

    What enters the mouth comes out the ass

    As dung, scat and scumber -

    Too many to number!

    Saints leave us turds, insects their frass.

    February 3, 2016

  • It's so Wordnik that insect shit gets the double limerick treatment.

    February 3, 2016

  • Truly, bilby is wise in the ways of Wordnik:

    We Wordniks have authentic class
    And honor what others call crass.
    A frank designation
    Deserves celebration,
    So kudos to unabashed frass!

    February 4, 2016