What does "tsetse" mean?

Any fly of the genus Glossina, native to Africa, that feeds on human and animal blood; known primarily as a carrier of parasitic trypanosomes.

What is a synonym for "tsetse"?

Common synonyms include: tsetse fly, glossina, tsetse fly, tzetze, tzetze fly.

//ˈtsitsi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any fly of the genus Glossina, native to Africa, that feeds on human and animal blood; known primarily as a carrier of parasitic trypanosomes.
"Species of Trypanosoma transmitted by tsetse cause diseases of economic importance in humans and domestic animals in sub-Saharan Africa."
2
bloodsucking African fly; transmits sleeping sickness etc. wordnet

"Salema says tsetse prevents farmers from producing large quantities of food by killing draught animals, such as horses and oxen."

Borrowed from Tswana tsêtsê (“fly”).

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