Housefly

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any fly regularly found in human dwellings.
  2. 2
    common fly that frequents human habitations and spreads many diseases wordnet
  3. 3
    Any fly regularly found in human dwellings.; The common housefly, Musca domestica, that frequents most homes and spreads some diseases.

    "Of the three potential means (carriage on the body and legs, regurgitation and defecation) by which houseflies can transmit pathogens, one involves passage through the gut. During passage through the housefly, pathogens may replicate within the gut."

Synonyms

All synonyms
house flymusca domestica

Example

More examples

"The common housefly is unwelcome around food because flies can carry disease-causing germs. Now, scientists have shown that the insects can also spread food poisoning bacteria to chickens in poultry houses. As a result, they say flies are a threat to the safety of poultry products."

Etymology

From house + fly. Cognate with Dutch huisvlieg (“housefly”), Danish husflue (“housefly”), Swedish husfluga (“housefly”), Faroese húsfluga (“housefly”).

Related phrases

common houseflymusca domestica

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.