Word.ws English Dictionary

housefly

housefly noun: any fly regularly found in human dwellings.

housefly: any fly regularly found in human dwellings
Image: USDAgov, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

housefly (plural houseflies)

  1. Any fly regularly found in human dwellings.
    1. 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.1990, D. C. Kaslow, S. Welburn, “16: Insect-transmitted pathogens in the insect midgut”, in M. Lehane, P. Billingsley, editors, Biology of the Insect Midgut, page 454
      • In the housefly, M. domestica, sex pheromone production is correlated with egg development.2004, R. Jurenka, “Insect Pheromone Biosynthesis”, in Stefan Schulz, editor, The Chemistry of Pheromones and Other Semiochemicals I, page 123

housefly meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

housefly in Tamil

fly
ஈ ī

housefly in Urdu

عام مکھی

housefly in Malayalam

fly
ഈച്ച īcca

housefly in Kannada

ನೊಣ, ನೊಳ
More languagesFewer languages
housefly in Punjabi
ਮੱਖੀ makkhī, مکھی makkhī
housefly in Tagalog
langaw
housefly in Arabic
ذُبَابَة مَنْزِلِيَّة
housefly in Vietnamese
ruồi nhà

Forms of housefly

pluralhouseflies
alternative formhouse fly
alternative formhouse-fly

Origin of housefly

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

Questions about housefly

What does housefly mean?
Housefly means any fly regularly found in human dwellings.
What is housefly in Tamil?
Housefly in Tamil is ஈ (ī). See Housefly meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is housefly?
Housefly is a noun.
What is the plural of housefly?
The plural of housefly is houseflies.

Words near housefly in the dictionary

  1. houseflag
  2. houseflags
  3. houseflies
  4. housefloor
  5. housefloors
  6. housefly
  7. housefolk
  8. housefrock
  9. housefrocks
  10. housefront
  11. housefronts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: housefly (page history and authors); housefly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); housefly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مکھی (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-housefly.wav.

Cite this entry: “housefly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/housefly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.