gnat

Meaning

1. Any small insect of the order Diptera, specifically within the suborder Nematocera.
2. (informal) An annoying person.

Synonyms

mosquito

🦟

midge

sandfly

skeeter

fly

✈️

culex

fruit fly

any small biting fly

buffalo gnat

a tiny fly

black fly

a tiny gnat

bug

🐛

cricket

🦗

nipper

small insect

wriggler

culicidae

Pronounced as (IPA)

/næt/

Etymology

From Middle English gnat, from Old English gnætt (“gnat; midge; mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic *gnatt, *gnattu, from Proto-Germanic *gnattaz, *gnattuz (“gnat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰneHdʰn-, *gʰneHd- (“to gnaw; scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰen- (“to gnaw; bite; scratch; grind”). Cognate with Low German Gnatte (“gnat”), dialectal Swedish gnatt (“mote; particle; atom”), German Gnatz (“scabs; rash; scabies; stinginess”). Related also gnit and gnaw.