Sandfly

name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various small flies of the genera Lutzomyia and Phlebotomus whose females suck the blood of vertebrates and thus spread leishmaniasis.
  2. 2
    any of various small dipterous flies; bloodsucking females can transmit sandfly fever and leishmaniasis wordnet
  3. 3
    A small fly of the genus Austrosimulium. New-Zealand
  4. 4
    A biting midge (family Ceratopogonidae). US
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A locality in Kingborough council area, south eastern Tasmania, Australia.

Synonyms

All synonyms
namunoseeumphlebotomus papatasiisand flysand flysandflea

Example

More examples

"A parasite known as kala azar is said to infect half-a-million people worldwide, killing up to 60,000 people each year. Spread through the bite of a sandfly, its symptoms are fever, weight loss and swelling of the spleen and liver."

Etymology

From sand + fly.

Related phrases

sandfly feverbiting midgeno see umsand flea

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