Where does “bluebugging” come from?

bluebugging (English) comes from English Bluetooth, from English Blue, from Middle English blēwe, from Anglo-Norman blew, from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, from Latvian blāvus, from Old High German blāo — yellow, blond, grey.

bluebugging (English): The practice of secretly installing a back door on a mobile phone and then remotely monitoring conversations by means of Bluetooth technology

Definitions

  1. The practice of secretly installing a back door on a mobile phone and then remotely monitoring conversations by means of Bluetooth technology

Ancestry of “bluebugging”, step by step

bluebugging traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Bluetooth

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishBluetoothThe nickname of
2EnglishBlueA letterman at Oxford or Cambridge; A member of...
3Middle Englishblēwe
4Anglo-Normanblewblue
5Middle Frenchbleublue
6Old Frenchblöeblue
7Latvianblāvusaccusative plural masculine form of blāvs
8Old High Germanblāoblue, dark, grey; blue; yellow
9Proto-West Germanicblāublue
10Proto-Germanicblēwazblue; a dark bluish or grey colour, black
11Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰlēw-yellow, blond, grey

via English bugging

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishbuggingpresent participle of bug; Electronic...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰlēw-