midge

See also: Midge

English

A midge laying eggs

a gall midge

midges (lures)

Alternative forms

• midgie, midgy, midgey (Northern England, Scotland)
• minge (US, archaic, dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English mydge, migge, from Old English mygg, myċġ (“midge, gnat”), from Proto-West Germanic *muggju, from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“fly, midge”), *mu-, *mew-.

cognates

• Scots mige (“midge”)
• Saterland Frisian Määge (“gnat, mosquito”)
• West Frisian mich (“fly, mosquito”)
• West Flemish meezje (“midge, mosquito”)
• Dutch mug (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)
• German Low German Mügge (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)
• German Mücke (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)
• Swedish mygg, mygga (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)
• Icelandic mý (“midge, gnat, fly”)

The Proto-Indo-European root was also the source of

• Latin musca
• Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa)
• Russian му́ха (múxa)
• Latvian muša
• Czech muchnička
• Albanian mizë
• Armenian մուն (mun)

Pronunciation

• enPR: mĭj, IPA^(key): /mɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪdʒ

Noun

midge (plural midges)

1. any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera
   • 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, “A Knife in the Dark”, in The Fellowship of the Ring:

     "I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"

   • 2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46:

     Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.

2. (fishing) any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge

Derived terms

• aphid midge
• apple leaf midge
• apple midge
• barley midge
• biting midge (Ceratopogonidae)
• dung midge (Scatopsidae)
• frog-biting midge
• gall midge (Cecidomyiidae)
• mackerel midge
• meniscus midge (Dixidae)
• midge cap
• midge grass (Holcus lanatus)
• Midge Hall
• midgeling
• midge net
• midget
• midgey
• mountain midge (Deuterophlebiidae)
• net-winged midge (Blephariceridae)
• non-biting midge (Chironomidae)
• pear midge (Contarinia pyrivora)
• phantom midge (Chaoboridae)
• solitary midge (Thaumaleidae)
• sorghum midge
• swede midge
• wheat midge
• wheat-midge

 

Translations

fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae

• Albanian: mushicë (sq) f, harrje (sq) f
• Armenian: մլակ (hy) (mlak)
• Azerbaijani: mız, muz (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 摇蚊 (zh) (yáowén)

• Czech: pakomár m, pakomárec m
• Danish: myg (da) c
• Dutch: mug (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: sääski (fi)
• French: moucheron (fr) m
• German: Mücke (de) f
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Ingrian: moška
• Irish: míoltóg (ga) f
• Italian: moscerino (it) m
• Japanese: ユスリカ (yusurika)
• Korean: 모기 (ko) (mogi)
• Latin: culex m
• Latvian: miģele f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Low German:

  German Low German: Mügg (nds) f

• Manx: meeyl f, quill f
• Maori: namupoto, naonao, nahonaho, pōngarongaro
• Nandi: kipcharkarario
• Norman: bibet m
• Norwegian: knott, mygg (no)
• Portuguese: mosquito (pt) m
• Russian: мошка (ru) f (moška)
• Scottish Gaelic: meanbh-chuileag f
• Spanish: jején (es) m, mosquito (es) m
• Swedish: mygg (sv)
• Ukrainian: мошка f (moška), мушка f (muška)
• Vietnamese: ruồi nhuế
• Welsh: gwybedyn

See also

• gnat