Meanings
midge1
plural midges · alternative Northern England Scotland midgie · alternative Northern England Scotland midgy · alternative Northern England Scotland midgey · alternative US archaic dialectal minge
- 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!"
1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, “A Knife in the Dark”, in The Fellowship of the Ring1 more example
Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.
2012 January 28, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46 - Northern EnglandScotlandnow chiefly school slangA small, short or insignificant person.
Midge2
- A female given name of rare usage, variant of Madge.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mū-
- Proto-Germanic*mugjō
- Proto-West Germanic*muggju
- Old Englishmyġġ
- Middle Englishmydge
- Englishmidge
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)
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 摇蚊
- 摇蚊 (yáowén)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Czech pakomár, pakomárec
- pakomárfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- pakomárecfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Danish myg
- mygfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Dutch mug
- mugfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Finnish sääski
- sääskifly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
French moucheron
- moucheronfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
German Mücke
- Mückefly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Irish míoltóg
- míoltógfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Italian moscerino
- moscerinofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Japanese ユスリカ
- ユスリカ (yusurika)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Korean 모기
- 모기 (mogi)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Latin culex
- culexfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Latvian miģele
- miģelefly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Māori namupoto, naonao
- namupotofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- naonaofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- nahonahofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- pōngarongarofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Norwegian knott, mygg
- knottfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- myggfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Polish kuczman
- kuczmanfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Portuguese mosquito
- mosquitofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Russian мошка
- мошка (moška)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Scottish Gaelic meanbh-chuileag
- meanbh-chuileagfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Spanish jején, mosquito
- jejénfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- mosquitofly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Swedish mygg
- myggfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Ukrainian мошка, мушка
- мошка (moška)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
- мушка (muška)fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Vietnamese ruồi nhuế
- ruồi nhuếfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Welsh gwybed
- gwybedfly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with midge
All rhymes →Cite this entry
midge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midge
“midge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midge. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “midge,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midge.
Source: midge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.