housefly

/ˈhaʊsflaɪ/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈhaʊsflaɪ/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈhau̇s-ˌflī/ (ame, mw)

housefly — noun

  • houseflysingular
  • housefliesplural

1. a small flying insect with grey-and-black markings that is often seen indoors ne

1.名詞B1
釋義

a small flying insect with grey-and-black markings that is often seen indoors near food or rubbish and can carry germs from one place to another

例句

Meera swatted the housefly that kept landing on her slice of watermelon.

countable: a/the housefly + landed on [food]

Two houseflies were buzzing around the kitchen window all afternoon.

plural form: houseflies

同義詞
  • fly

    broader everyday term; 'housefly' specifies the common indoor species

  • common fly

    informal way of saying the same insect

用法筆記

Singular 'housefly' is the everyday term; in biology and pest-control writing the same insect is often labelled 'Musca domestica'.

常見錯誤

❌I saw a house fly in the kitchen' (when meaning the insect).
✅I saw a housefly in the kitchen.
💡written as one word for the insect; 'house fly' as two words sounds like a flying house.