gnat
A biting insect, especially a mosquitoA biting insect, especially a mosquito.
» The wind drove off the gnats.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesA biting insect, especially a mosquito.
Stechmücke, Schnake, Mücke
мо́шкаmóška, кома́рkomár
мошкаmoška, мушкаmuška, комарkomar
(British usage) mosquito
(informal)An annoying person.
Examples
7 sentencesThe wind drove off the gnats.
I was bitten by a gnat.
deMich hat eine Stechmücke gestochen. — al_ex_an_der
The cow missed being hit by a gnat's whisker.
You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
ruТы придираешься к мелочам, а главного не видишь. — Selena777
The gnats swarmed us.
deDie Mücken umschwärmten uns. — Augustus
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English gnat, from Old English gnætt (“gnat; midge; mosquito”), from Proto-WesFrom 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 (“mosquito”), German Gnatz (“scabs; rash; scabies; stinginess”). Related also gnit and gnaw.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.