gnat

See also: Gnat and gnát

English

Etymology

From Middle English gnat, from Old English gnætt (“gnat; midge; mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic *gnatt, *gnattu, from Proto-Germanic *gnattaz, *gnattuz (“gnat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰneHdʰn-, *gʰneHd- (“to gnaw; scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰen- (“to gnaw; bite; scratch; grind”). Cognate with Low German Gnatte (“gnat”), dialectal Swedish gnatt (“mosquito”), German Gnatz (“scabs; rash; scabies; stinginess”). Related also gnit and gnaw.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /næt/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æt

Noun

gnat (plural gnats)

  1. Any small insect of the order Diptera, specifically within the suborder Nematocera.
  2. (informal) An annoying person.
    • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 115:
      "Away thou whining gnat, and trouble me not!"

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English gnætt, from Proto-Germanic *gnattaz.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡnat/, /ɡnɛt/

Noun

gnat (plural gnattes)

  1. A gnat or similar insect.
  2. Something of little worth or importance.

Descendants

  • English: gnat
  • Scots: gnat

References

Polish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *gnatъ.

Pronunciation

 
  • IPA(key): /ˈɡnat/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -at
  • Syllabification: gnat
  • Homophone: Gnat

Noun

gnat m animal (diminutive gnacik)

  1. (colloquial) large bone
  2. (slang) gun
  3. (Far Masovian) animal bone
    Synonym: kość
    1. (Far Masovian) human bone
      Synonym: kość
      Gnaty me bolą. ― My bones hurt.

Declension

Declension of gnat
singular plural
nominative gnat gnaty
genitive gnata gnatów
dative gnatowi gnatom
accusative gnata gnaty
instrumental gnatem gnatami
locative gnacie gnatach
vocative gnacie gnaty

Further reading

  • gnat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • gnat in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • Wojciech Grzegorzewicz (1894) “gnat”, in “O języku ludowym w powiecie przasnyskim”, in Sprawozdania Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności (in Polish), volume 5, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page 108
  • Leon Rzeszowski (1891) “gnat”, in “Spis wyrazów ludowych z okolic Żywca”, in Sprawozdania Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności, volume 4, Krakow: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, page 355
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