gnat

gnat

See also: Gnat

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /næt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æt

Noun

gnat (plural gnats)

1. Any small insect of the order Diptera, specifically within the suborder Nematocera.
2. (informal) An annoying person.
   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 115:

     "Away thou whining gnat, and trouble me not!"

Derived terms

• gnat's
• gnat's arse, gnat's ass
• gnat bug
• gnatcatcher
• gnat's chuff
• gnateater
• gnat's prick
• gnat's whisker

Related terms

• gnit

Translations

any small insect of the order Diptera

Afrikaans: mug Arabic: Egyptian Arabic: برغش‎ m (barḡaš) Armenian: մոծակ (hy) (mocak) Bashkir: серәкәй (seräkäy) Bengali: ডাঁশ (bn) (ḍãś) Bulgarian: комар (bg) m (komar) Catalan: mosquit (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 蚋 (zh) (ruì), (mosquito) 蚊 (zh) (wén) Danish: myg (da) c, stikmyg c Dupaningan Agta: rahik Dutch: mug (nl) f, knut (nl) Erzya: марав (marav) Esperanto: kulo (eo) Estonian: please add this translation if you can Faroese: mýggjabiti m Finnish: sääski (fi) French: moucheron (fr) m German: Stechmücke (de) f, (colloquial, regional) Schnake (de) f Greek: Ancient: κώνωψ m (kṓnōps) Greenlandic: ippernaq Guaraní: ñati'û Gujarati: મચ્છર m (macchar) Hungarian: szúnyog (hu) Irish: corrmhíol m Italian: moscerino (it) Japanese: 蚋 (ja) (ぶよ, buyo), ブヨ (buyo) Kapampangan: absang Korean: 모기 (ko) (mogi) Latin: culex m, (rare) alucita f Latvian: ods (lv) m Lithuanian: mašalas m Macedonian: мушичка f (mušička), комарец m (komarec) Malagasy: aloiloy (mg) Manx: meeyl f, quill f Norman: bibet m Norwegian: knott m Persian: پشه‎ (fa) (paše) Portuguese: mosquito (pt) m Russian: мо́шка (ru) f (móška), (mosquito) кома́р (ru) m (komár) Scottish Gaelic: meanbh-chuileag f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: мушица f, (mosquito) комарац f Roman: mušica (sh) f, (mosquito) komarac (sh) f Sicilian: muschitta (scn) f, sampagghiuni m Spanish: (mosquito) mosquito (es) m Swedish: stickmygga (sv) c Tagalog: niknik Turkish: sivrisinek (tr) Vietnamese: ruồi nhuế Volapük: (♂♀) muskitil, (♂) himuskitil, (♀) jimuskitil Welsh: gwybedyn m West Frisian: langskonk

See also

• midge

Anagrams

• Gant, T'ang, Tang, tang

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• gnatte, knat, knatte, gnet

Etymology

From Old English gnætt, from Proto-Germanic *gnattaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡnat/, /ɡnɛt/

Noun

gnat (plural gnattes)

1. A gnat or similar insect.
2. Something of little worth or importance.

Descendants

• English: gnat
• Scots: gnat

References

• “gnat, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-17.

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Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *gnatъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡnat/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: gnat

Noun

gnat m anim (diminutive gnacik)

1. (colloquial) large bone
2. (slang) gun

Declension

Declension of gnat

	singular	plural
nominative	gnat	gnaty
genitive	gnata	gnatów
dative	gnatowi	gnatom
accusative	gnata	gnaty
instrumental	gnatem	gnatami
locative	gnacie	gnatach
vocative	gnacie	gnaty

Further reading

• gnat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gnat in Polish dictionaries at PWN