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midge

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midge¹

  • /mɪd͡ʒ/

Rhymes with -ɪdʒ

Where it comes from

From Middle English mydge, migge, from Old English myġġ, myċġ (“midge, gnat, mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic *muggju, from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mu-, *mew- (“fly, midge”).

The dialectal sense of "short person" was originally figurative, and gave rise to midget (“short person”) via the diminutive suffix -et, which has since become part of standard English with that meaning; this has caused midge to undergo rebracketing as a clipping of midget.

Cognates

* Scots mige (“midge”)

* Saterland Frisian Määge (“gnat, mosquito”)

* West Frisian mich (“fly, mosquito”)

* West Flemish meezje (“midge, mosquito”)

* Dutch mug (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)

* German Low German Mügge (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)

* German Mücke (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)

* Swedish mygg, mygga (“midge, gnat, mosquito”)

* Icelandic mý (“midge, gnat, fly”)

The Proto-Indo-European root was also the source of

* Latin musca

* Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa)

* Russian му́ха (múxa)

* Latvian muša

* Czech muchnička

* Albanian mizë

* Armenian մուն (mun)

noun midges · midgie · midgy · midgey · minge

  1. Any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera. "I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"
  2. Northern England, Scotland A small, short or insignificant person.
  3. Any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge.

Midge²

  • /mɪd͡ʒ/

Rhymes with -ɪdʒ

proper noun

  1. A female given name of rare usage, variant of Madge.

Translations

Every language

noun fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae

Españoljején, mosquito
한국어모기 mogi
日本語ユスリカ yusurika
中文摇蚊 yáowén
Portuguêsmosquito
Françaismoucheron
DeutschMücke
Italianomoscerino
Русскиймошка moška
Tiếng Việtruồi nhuế

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Cite this
MLA

"midge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/midge. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

midge. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/midge

Chicago

"midge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/midge.

BibTeX
@misc{midge_2026,
  title = {midge},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/midge},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}