Association of British Scrabble Players

Science & Tech > Other Life > Flies


Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.


aedes a genus of mosquito, including one that carries DENGUE and yellow fever. [Gk. aedes, distasteful].
aedine pertaining to an AEDES, a genus of mosquito.
alate having wings. Also ALATED. (Noun) a winged insect > ALATES.
anopheles a kind of mosquito. [Gk. anopheles hurtful, from an- (privative) + ophelos help].
beetfly a common pest of beets and mangelwurzels.
bloodworm the larva of the MIDGE.
blowfly a large fly.
blowie a blowfly.
bluebottle a large fly (genus Calliphora) with metallic blue abdomen, aka BLOWFLY.
bot the maggot of a botfly. Also BOTT. (Verb) to cadge: BOTS, BOTTING, BOTTED.
botfly a name for various flies that lay their eggs on horses, etc.
bott the maggot of a botfly. Also BOT.
breese the gadfly.
bristletail another name for the SILVERFISH.
brommer brummer the BLUEBOTTLE fly.
brulot a biting fly.
brummer see BROMMER.
budworm a larva that feeds on plant buds.
bushfly any of various small black dipterous flies.
campodeid a primitive wingless insect of the order Diptera.
cheesehopper a small fly whose larvae feed on cheese and move by jumping.
chironomid a member of a large genus of common midges.
cleg a HORSEFLY.
cornfly the GOUTFLY.
cranefly a fly with very long legs, aka daddy-long-legs.
culex a genus of insects, including the mosquito > CULICES or CULEXES.
culicid a member of the genus CULEX, a genus of insects, including the mosquito.
culiciform like or resembling a mosquito.
culicine a mosquito of a group that contains the genus Culex but not Anopheles.
dayfly a neuropterous insect of the genus Ephemera and related genera, so called because it commonly lives but one day in the winged or adult state.
deerfly a bloodsucking fly.
dipteran an insect of the order Diptera, a large order of two-winged insects including flies, gnats, mosquitoes, etc. Also DIPTERON.
dipterist a person who studies flies.
dipteron an insect of the order Diptera, a large order of two-winged insects including flies, gnats, mosquitoes, etc > DIPTERA or DIPTERONS. Also DIPTERAN.
dobson dobsonfly the larva of a large neuropterous insect, used as fish bait > DOBSONFLIES.
doodlebug the larva of an antlion or other insect; (coll.) a flying bomb of the 1939-45 war.
drosophila a kind of fruit-fly > DROSOPHILAS or DROSOPHILAE.
fly any insect of the order Diptera; (adj.) surreptitious or sly > FLIER or FLYER, FLIEST or FLYEST; (verb) to travel through the air: FLIES, FLYING, FLOWN, FLEW; to hit a ball high into the air in baseball: FLIES, FLYING, FLIED.
frit fritfly a small fly destructive to wheat and other crops.
gadfly a kind of stinging fly.
gallfly an insect of the hymenopterous family Cynipidae that causes galls by depositing its eggs in plants.
gallinipper a large mosquito capable of inflicting painful bite.
glassworm the larva of a GNAT.
glossina an insect of the tsetse fly genus.
gnat any small fly of the family Culicidae, of which the females are commonly bloodsuckers.
gnatlike like a GNAT.
gnatling a small gnat.
gnatty infested with gnats.
goutfly a fly whose larvae cause gout (a swelling of the stalk) by boring into wheat.
grannom a type of caddis fly used in angling.
grayfly the trumpet fly.
grubworm the larva of some insects.
hellgramite hellgrammite the large brown aquatic larva of the Dobson fly.
hemipterous of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Hemiptera, an order of insects including the bugs.
horsefly a large biting fly.
housefly the common FLY.
hoverfly a kind of fly > HOVERFLIES.
insectile pertaining to, or having the nature of, insects.
instar the form of an insect between moult and moult; (verb) to set among the stars > INSTARS, INSTARRING, INSTARRED.
lovebug a small black fly that swarms along highways.
maggot any soft-bodied limbless larva, esp. of a housefly, blowfly, or other dipteran fly, typically found in decaying organic matter.
maggoty infested with maggots > MAGGOTIER, MAGGOTIEST.
mallophagous relating to the Mallophaga, an order of wingless parasitic insects, bird-lice or biting-lice.
mawk a maggot. [ON mathkr, maggot].
mawky maggoty > MAWKIER, MAWKIEST.
medfly a Mediterranean fruit fly.
midge a small gnat-like fly, esp of the family Chironomidae.
midgie a small biting insect such as a midge or sandfly > MIDGIES.
midgy full of midges > MIDGIER, MIDGIEST.
mosquito any dipterous insect of the family Culicidae: the females have a long proboscis adapted for piercing the skin of man and animals to suck their blood > MOSQUITOS or MOSQUITOES.
mossie mozzie mosquito > MOSSIES. Also MOZZIE.
motuca mutuca a large Brazilian biting fly > MOTUCAS. [Port. f. Tupi mutuca].
mozzie see MOSSIE.
musca a genus of dipterous insects, including the common house fly, and numerous allied species: MUSCAE.
muscid of the family including the housefly > MUSCIDS.
mutuca see MOTUCA.
namu a black New Zealand sandfly.
ootheca a case containing the eggs of some insects > OOTHECAE.
pium a small troublesome Brazilian biting fly > PIUMS.
prepupa an insect in the stage of life before a pupa > PREPUPAE or PREPUPAS.
punkey punkie punky a biting gnat.
sandfly any of various small bloodsucking flies.
sciarid a minute, dark-coloured, two-winged fly.
screwworm the larva of a dipterous fly which develops under the skin of certain animals.
silverfish any wingless primitive insect of the genus Lepisma (order Thysanura), which feeds on starch in wallpaper, bookbindings, etc.
simulium a small black blood-sucking fly > SIMULIUMS.
skeeter a mosquito.
stegomyia a genus of mosquito, including one that carries dengue and yellow fever, aka AEDES.
stonefly a insect whose larva live under stones in streams.
subimago a stage in the development of certain insects, such as the May flies, intermediate between the pupa and imago > SUBIMAGINES, SUBIMAGOS or SUBIMAGOES.
syrphian a SYRPHID, a wasp-like fly.
syrphid a family of flies that look like wasps. [Gk. syrphos, gnat].
tabanid a kind of blood-sucking insect, the gadfly genus. [L. tabanus, gadfly].
tachina as in tachina fly, bristly fly. No —S.
tachinid any dipterous bristly fly of the family Tachinidae.
tipula a crane-fly > TIPULAS. [L. tippula water-spider, water-bug].
treehopper a kind of leaping insect.
tsetse tzetse tzetze a small fly that transmits TRYPANOSOME parasites.
vermicule a small worm or insect larva; also, a wormlike body.
whitefly any of several insect pests belonging to the family Aleurodidae.
zebub zimb an Ethiopian dipterous insect. [Amharic, a fly].