: any of a family (Culicidae) of dipteran flies with females that have a set of slender organs in the proboscis adapted to puncture the skin of animals and to suck their blood and that are in some cases vectors of serious diseases
Recent Examples on the WebAs of Thursday, a total of eight birds and two mosquito samples have tested positive for the virus in Sacramento County.—Elise Fisher, Sacramento Bee, 13 June 2024 Inside, generous windows with fine-mesh mosquito screens provide plenty of visibility and airflow.—Jessica MacDonald, Travel + Leisure, 13 June 2024 Symptom Relief: Certain mosquito bite relief products work faster and provide longer-lasting relief than others.—Laura Lu, Ms, Parents, 4 June 2024 April showers bring May flowers, but May showers could bring more mosquitoes.—Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for mosquito
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Word History
Etymology
Spanish, diminutive of mosca fly, from Latin musca — more at midge
: any of numerous two-winged flies of which the females have a needlelike structure of the mouth region adapted to puncture the skin and suck the blood of animals
: any of numerous dipteran flies of the family Culicidae that have a rather narrow abdomen, usually a long slender rigid proboscis, and narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the margin and usually on each side of the wing veins, that have in the male broad feathery antennae and mouthparts not fitted for piercing and in the female slender antennae and a set of needlelike organs in the proboscis with which they puncture the skin of animals to suck the blood, that lay their eggs on the surface of stagnant water, that include many species which pass through several generations in the course of a year and hibernate as adults or winter in the egg state, and that include some species which are the only vectors of certain diseases see aedes, anopheles, culex
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