mosquito

/məˈskidoʊ/

/məˈskitəʊ/

Other forms: mosquitoes; mosquitos

A mosquito is a tiny stinging insect that leaves an itchy welt on your skin. Between its annoying bites and its ability to spread disease, the mosquito is not the most popular of insects (unlike the fair ladybug).

Male mosquitoes feed on nectar and live only a few days, while females need to feed on blood in order for their eggs to develop and be laid. Female mosquitoes, therefore, can be a nuisance on summer evenings, and can even be downright dangerous in tropical areas where they often spread diseases like malaria. In Spanish, mosquito means "little gnat," from mosca, "gnat or fly."

Definitions of mosquito

1. noun

   two-winged insect whose female has a long proboscis to pierce the skin and suck the blood of humans and animals
   types:

   gnat

   (British usage) mosquito

   Aedes aegypti, yellow-fever mosquito

   mosquito that transmits yellow fever and dengue

   Aedes albopictus, Asian tiger mosquito

   striped native of Japan thriving in southwestern and midwestern United States and spreading to the Caribbean; potential carrier of serious diseases

   anopheline

   any mosquito of the genus Anopheles

   malaria mosquito, malarial mosquito

   transmits the malaria parasite

   Culex pipiens, common mosquito

   common house mosquito

   Culex fatigans, Culex quinquefasciatus

   widespread tropical mosquito that transmits filarial worms

   type of:

   dipteran, dipteron, dipterous insect, two-winged insects

   insects having usually a single pair of functional wings (anterior pair) with the posterior pair reduced to small knobbed structures and mouth parts adapted for sucking or lapping or piercing