housefly

IPA/ˈhaʊsflaɪ/
IPA/ˈhaʊsflaɪ/

housefly — noun

  • houseflysingular
  • housefliesplural

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

1.nounB1
Definition

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

Example

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

Common collocations
  • swat a housefly
  • a buzzing housefly
  • houseflies on the food
Synonyms
  • fly

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

  • common fly

    informal way of saying the same insect

Usage Note

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

Common Mistakes

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.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name small two-winged insects, but they describe different species and contexts. 'Housefly' is the specific common indoor fly with grey-and-black markings that gathers around food and rubbish; it is what people usually mean when they say 'there is a fly in the kitchen'. 'Fly' on its own is the broad everyday word covering houseflies and many other species, so it is less precise. 'Fruit fly' is much smaller, usually pale brown, and gathers around ripe or rotting fruit rather than meat or rubbish. 'Bluebottle' is larger than a housefly, has a shiny blue-green body, and is often linked with raw meat. In daily speech you would call the small grey one near your sandwich a 'housefly' or simply a 'fly'; a tiny one above the bananas is a 'fruit fly'; a big shiny one near a butcher's bin is a 'bluebottle'.

housefly ↗fly ↗fruit flybluebottle

Common collocations

Nouns

  • housefly population
  • housefly larvae
  • housefly trap

Phrases

  • swarm of houseflies
  • covered in houseflies

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

A straightforward compound of 'house' and 'fly', first recorded in English by the late 1500s. It was coined to mark the small grey fly that lives close to humans, as opposed to flies found in fields or woods. Both parts are everyday Old English words: 'house' from Old English 'hus' (dwelling) and 'fly' from Old English 'flyge' (a flying insect).