Mossie
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Any of various species of sparrow, especially Passer melanurus. South-Africa
"Our four baby mossies have left the nest."
- 2 A mosquito. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, colloquial
"She came out, standing a head taller than him, tugging a loose cotton shift into place, and made for a rough brick fireplace beside a pile of rusting pots and pans. ‘Come inside,’ Willi said. ‘The mossies will eat you alive out here.’"
- 3 A de Havilland Mosquito. UK, colloquial, dated, historical, informal
"He leaned into the electric gunsight, aiming the Mossie at the left wingroot between engine and fuselage, where he knew there were fuel tanks — his right thumb mashed the control-column firing button."
- 4 A person of Maori descent living in Australia. Australia, New-Zealand, slang
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Maurice. Ireland
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Our four baby mossies have left the nest."
Etymology
From Afrikaans, from Dutch mus (“a sparrow”).
Diminutive formed from mosquito. Compare Dutch meuzie (“mosquito”).
Diminutive of Maurice + -ie.
Form of mossie (“diminutive of mosquito”).
Blend of Maori + Aussie.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.