Etymology Borrowed from Spanish mosquito (“gnat”), diminutive of mosca (“fly”), from Latin musca (“fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *mūs- (“fly, stinging fly, gnat”). Cognate with West Flemish meuzie (“mosquito”), dialectal Swedish mausa (“fly”), Lithuanian musė (“a fly”) and Sicilian muschitta (“midge”). See also midge. First attested in the 1580s.
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A small flying insect of the family Culicidae, the females of which bite humans and animals and suck blood, leaving an itching bump on the skin, and sometimes carrying diseases like malaria, dengue and yellow fever.
I do not quite know what it was that made me poke my head out of the friendly shelter of the blanket, perhaps because I found that the mosquitoes were biting right through it.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
We lit a driftwood fire to help keep the mosquitoes away. It was partially successful.1941 March 12, Charles A. Lindbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1970, page 461:
3 more examples
Nicaragua has been investigating the possibility that the 1985 outbreak of dengue fever along its Honduran border may have resulted from the release of infected mosquitos by U.S. reconnaissance overflights.1987 May 9, Bod Lederer, “US Denies AIDS Bio War with Contradictions”, in Gay Community News, page 8:
Sue had climbed up to the rafters and attached her mosquito netting over one of the exposed beams in the ceiling, and Edgar had climbed into the bed under it so no flying buzzies would mess with his ears.2011, Sharon S. Delaney, Celestial Mesa: 2012, →ISBN, page 120:
October in Orania can be charming. When the sun sets, long ribbons of burnt orange settle on the horizon. The flies and mosquitoes that come with the oppressive summer heat haven’t arrived yet. It is Magdalene Kleynhans’ favourite time of year. “You can sit outside until late into the night,” says the businesswoman, whose family spend much of their time outdoors. Her children fish from the banks of the Orange River whenever they choose. Kleynhans leaves the house unlocked. “It’s a good life. It’s a big privilege.”2019 October 24, Dennis Webster, “'An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2022:
Etymology Borrowed from Spanish mosquito (“gnat”), diminutive of mosca (“fly”), from Latin musca (“fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *mūs- (“fly, stinging fly, gnat”). Cognate with West Flemish meuzie (“mosquito”), dialectal Swedish mausa (“fly”), Lithuanian musė (“a fly”) and Sicilian muschitta (“midge”). See also midge. First attested in the 1580s.
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To fly close to the ground, seemingly without a course.
Mosquito
noun
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Historical The De Havilland Mosquito, a Second World War military aircraft.