means Worms are long, soft-bodied, limbless invertebrates that burrow through soil, water, or other organisms, with earthworms being the familiar garden variety.

from From Old English "wyrm," which once meant far more than the humble crawler — it covered serpents, dragons, and any creeping, coiling beast. It's tied to a broad Germanic family (compare German "Wurm" and Old Norse "ormr") and likely reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn or bend," possibly a cousin of Latin "vermis" (source of "vermin"). So the word for the wriggling thing in your garden once also named the fire-breathing dragon a hero slew — both, after all, are long things that twist.