Mücke
German edit
Etymology edit
From Middle High German mücke, mügge, mucke, mugge, from Old High German mucka, mugga, from Proto-West Germanic *muggjā, from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, *muwō (“midge”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“fly, midge”), *mu-, *mew-.
Compare Dutch mug, Low German Mügg, Mügge, English midge, Danish myg, Latin musca.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
Mücke f (genitive Mücke, plural Mücken, diminutive Mückchen n or Mücklein n)
- (biology) insect of the order Nematocera, that is a mosquito, crane fly, gnat, or midge
- (in practice especially) mosquito
- Synonyms: Stechmücke, (Austria) Gelse, (south-western Germany) Schnake, (chiefly tropical kinds) Moskito
- (regional, Austria, parts of Southern Germany) fly
Usage notes edit
- Mücke is most often understood as a blood-sucking mosquito in northern and central Germany, though this is mainly because this kind is more annoying and therefore more often talked about. Generally the term includes all of the “Nematocera”. The further inclusion of flies is restricted to Austrian Standard German and southern German vernaculars.
Declension edit
Declension of Mücke [feminine]
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “Mücke” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Mücke” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Mücke” in Duden online
- Mücke on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de