Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1580s
Mosquito
from mosquito
- Meaning
- Little fly — diminutive of *mosca* (fly).
- Source word
- mosquito
- Route into English
- Spanish *mosquito* → English via early 16th-century New World exploration accounts. Older English used "gnat" before adopting the Spanish word for tropical species.
- Arrived
- 1580s
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.