mosquito

noun mos·qui·to \mə-ˈskē-(ˌ)tō\

: a small flying insect that bites the skin of people and animals and sucks their blood

plural mos·qui·toes also mos·qui·tos

Full Definition of MOSQUITO

: 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

— mos·qui·to·ey \-ˈskē-tə-wē\ adjective

See mosquito defined for English-language learners

See mosquito defined for kids

Illustration of MOSQUITO

Origin of MOSQUITO

Spanish, diminutive of mosca fly, from Latin musca — more at midge

First Known Use: circa 1583

Other Insect Terms

drone, entomology, gadfly, pismire, proboscis, vespine

MOSQUITO Defined for Kids

mosquito

noun mos·qui·to \mə-ˈskē-tō\

plural mos·qui·toes

Definition of MOSQUITO for Kids

: a small fly the female of which punctures the skin of people and animals to suck their blood

Medical Dictionary

mosquito

noun mos·qui·to \mə-ˈskēt-(ˌ)ō, -ə(-w)\

plural mos·qui·toes also mos·qui·tos

Medical Definition of MOSQUITO

: 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