mosca

See also: Mosca, mósca, mòsca, and moscá

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (insect)

References

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002) “mosca”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin musca.

Noun

mosca f (plural mosques)

1. fly (insect)

Catalan

mosca

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan mosca, from Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈmos.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmos.ka]

• Audio (Valencia):

  (file)

Noun

mosca f (plural mosques)

1. fly (insect)

Related terms

• mosca blanca
• mosca de l'api
• mosca del vinagre
• mosca negra
• mosca verda
• mosca vironera
• moscallejar
• moscalló
• moscam
• moscard
• moscarda
• mosquejar
• mosquer
• mosquera
• mosquit

Further reading

• “mosca”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “mosca”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “mosca” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mosca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese mosca, from Latin musca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoska̝/

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (insect)
2. (television) digital on-screen graphic

Derived terms

• mosca beira
• mosca caíña
• mosca caira
• moscar
• moscardo
• Moscosas
• Moscoso
• mosquear
• mosqueira
• mosqueiro
• Mosqueiro
• Mosqueiros
• mosquitar
• mosquito
• Pena Moscosa

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “mosca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mosca”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “mosca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “mosca”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “mosca”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Etymology 2

Verb

mosca

1. inflection of moscar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology

From Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-. Compare Spanish mosca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmos.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oska
• Hyphenation: mó‧sca

Noun

mosca f (plural mosche, diminutive moschétta or moschìna or moschìno m or moschettìna, augmentative (uncommon) moscóna, pejorative moscàccia)

1. fly (insect)
   • 13^th century, “De’ Funghi [Of Mushrooms]”, in Trattato dell'agricoltura [Treatise On Agriculture]‎^[1], translation of Opus ruralium commodorum libri XII by Pietro De' Crescenzi, published 1605, page 326:

     […] quello è mortale, che tosto uccide, e chiamasi il fungo delle mosche, imperocchè, polverizzato in latte, uccide le mosche.

     That one is deadly, which kills at once, and it is called the "mushroom of the flies", because, if ground in milk, it kills flies.

   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XVII”, in Inferno [Hell]‎^[2], lines 49–51; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[3], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     non altrimenti fan di state i cani
     or col ceffo or col piè, quando son morsi
     o da pulci o da mosche o da tafani

     Not unlike how dogs do during the summer, with the head or the leg, when they're bitten by fleas or flies or horseflies

   • 1668, Francesco Redi, Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl’insetti [Experiences About the Generation of Insects]‎^[4], Florence, page 137:

     e pure io ho vedute le mosche partorir le loro uova ed i loro vermi nel timo, e da que’ vermi nascerne le mosche

     And yet, I've seen flies laying their eggs, and their larvae, amidst thyme, and flies being born from those larvae

2. (by extension, figurative):
   1. (fishing) fly (lure)
      • 1833, Nuovo dizionario universale tecnologico o di arti e mestieri - Tomo Ⅷ [New universal technological dictionary, or of arts and crafts - Volume 8], Venice: Giuseppe Antonelli ed., Mosca, page 461:

        Nell’arte della pesca, diconsi mosche certi insetti fittizi fatti alla buona per servire d’esca ai pesci.

        In the art of fishing, flies are a kind of improvised fake insects, made to serve as a lure for fish.

      • 1981, Carlo Cotta Ramusino, “Capitolo Ⅶ - Tecnica di lancio [Chapter 7 - Throwing technique]”, in Pesca a mosca: canne, lenze, mulinelli, setali, mosche, lanci da pesca e da gara‎^[5], page 195:

        Premetto che se volete imparare a lanciare, non dovete pretendere di andare vicino all’acqua, montare la canna, attaccare la mosca e mettervi a pescare.

        I have to preface that, if you wish to learn to throw [the line], you mustn't expect to just go near water, assemble the rod, attach the fly, and start fishing.

   2. (historical, cosmetics) beauty spot
   3. soul patch (narrow beard)
   4. (in the plural) Black spots on a horse's coat.
   5. (bartending slang) a roasted coffee bean sometimes served with sambuca
3. (foundry) a small ball of plastic material used to verify the thickness of the various parts of a mold
4. (nautical, historical) aviso, advice boat

   Synonym: avviso

Derived terms

• moscaio
• moscaiola
• moscerino
• moscone
• occhio di mosca

Noun

mosca m (invariable)

1. (martial arts) Ellipsis of peso mosca.: a flyweight-class fighter.

Further reading

• mosca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Leonese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (insect)

References

• AEDLL

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan mosca, from Latin musca.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (insect)

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin musca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoska/
• Rhymes: -oska
• Hyphenation: mos‧ca

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (any insect of the order Diptera)

Descendants

• Fala: mosca
• Galician: mosca
• Portuguese: mosca

References

• Manuel Ferreiro (2014–2025) “mosca”, in Universo Cantigas. Edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “mosca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mosca”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin muscam, accusative of musca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoska/

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (any insect of the order Diptera)
   • c. 1250, Alfonso X, Lapidario, f. 31v:

     Et ſi tomaren cinco moſcas o ſiete ⁊ les tollieren las cabeças ⁊ las machucaren con eſta piedra. ⁊ las puſieren ſobre la ferida dela bieſpa, ſana luego ⁊ faz perder la dolor.

     And if the took five flies, or seven, and they took their heads and crushed them with this stone, and they put them on a wasp sting, it would then heal it and alleviate the pain.

Related terms

• mosquito (“mosquito”)

Descendants

• Ladino: moshka (Latin spelling), מושקה (Hebrew spelling)
• Spanish: mosca

Portuguese

mosca

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese mosca, from Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.kɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.kɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʃ.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.ka/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʃ.kɐ/

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -oskɐ, (Portugal) -oʃkɐ
• Hyphenation: mos‧ca

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (various insects in the order Diptera)
2. soul patch (narrow beard)
3. bullseye (centre of a target)
4. (colloquial) an annoying person

Usage notes

• Unlike English fly, which can be any dipterid, mosca has a narrower sense and usually refers to the insects in the suborder Brachycera, while the ones in Nematocera are known as mosquitos.

Derived terms

• amanita mata-moscas
• às moscas
• comer mosca
• dar mosca
• mata-moscas
• mosca azul
• mosca doméstica
• mosca volante
• mosca-das-frutas
• mosca-de-banheiro
• mosca-varejeira
• moscão
• moscar
• moscaria
• mosquedo
• mosqueiro
• mosquinha
• na mosca
• papa-moscas
• pé de mosca
• peso mosca

Related terms

• moscaréu
• mosquito
• muscívoro

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔs.kɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔs.kɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔʃ.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔs.ka/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔʃ.kɐ/

• Hyphenation: mos‧ca

Verb

mosca

1. inflection of moscar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “mosca”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “mosca”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “mosca”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “mosca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “mosca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoska/ [ˈmos.ka]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oska
• Syllabification: mos‧ca

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish mosca, from Latin musca, from a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

Noun

mosca f (plural moscas)

1. fly (any insect of the order Diptera)
2. (boxing) fly (boxing class)
3. (television) digital on-screen graphic

Derived terms

• ala de mosca
• alguacil de moscas
• amoscar
• atrapamoscas
• caer como moscas
• en boca cerrada no entran moscas
• matamoscas
• mosca de burro
• mosca de la carne
• mosca de la fruta
• mosca de Milán
• mosca del vinagre
• mosca muerta
• mosca panteonera
• mosca soldado
• moscarda
• moscardón
• mosco
• moscón
• mosquito
• orquídea mosca
• papamoscas
• por si las moscas
• publimosca
• puñado de moscas
• qué mosca te ha picado

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mosca

1. inflection of moscar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “mosca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• “mosca”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• mosca | Diccionario • DELE Ahora
• DiPerú | Diccionario de peruanismos en línea