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 ofinsects .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word frass.
Examples
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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
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Yes, caterpillar shit is called frass, and yes, it's derived from fressen.
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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
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(or more specifically called frass) coming out of them.
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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'.
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But in those two classes, no one ever mentioned the word "frass".
May Dreams Gardens 2010
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I've been looking for opportunities all week to use "frass" in a sentence …
May Dreams Gardens 2010
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First of all, you should know that "frass" is the technical (and very nice, I think) word for "insect pooh."
Museum Blogs 2009
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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
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Simcox only knew they were there by the frass – black pellets of caterpillar poo – that falls from the thyme.
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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
reesetee commented on the word frass
insect poop
February 23, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word frass
EEW. Why does insect poop need a word?!
February 23, 2007
reesetee commented on the word frass
Yes, but let's be fair--it does *sound* better than "insect poop."
February 23, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word frass
Ooo! I will use this when I teach my cricket unit in September. *That* is why it needs a name.
April 28, 2007
reesetee commented on the word frass
See? Precisely! *triumphant*
April 28, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word frass
Alas, the insect unit is actually in October, but I *will* be using this word tomorrow. :)
October 3, 2007
reesetee commented on the word frass
Glad to hear it! Man, you have a good memory. I'd have forgotten all about it by now.
October 3, 2007
oroboros commented on the word frass
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
chained_bear commented on the word frass
Oh, now come on. That's complete frass.
(note: not really)
October 4, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word frass
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
sionnach commented on the word frass
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
reesetee commented on the word frass
Then again, weevil-frass is rather fun to say.
Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass.
March 14, 2008
jennarenn commented on the word frass
No frass this year. I've been demoted to mold.
November 4, 2008
reesetee commented on the word frass
But look on the bright side, jenn--fungi can be fun!
November 4, 2008
qms commented on the word frass
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
bilby commented on the word frass
It's so Wordnik that insect shit gets the double limerick treatment.
February 3, 2016
qms commented on the word frass
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