Where does “cheese fly” come from?

cheese fly (English) comes from English fly, from Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Old English -ende, from Proto-West Germanic *-andī, from Proto-Germanic -andz, from Proto-Indo-European -ónts, from Hungarian önt — sound, voice.

cheese fly (English): Piophila casei, a small fly whose larvae infest cheese and other foods

Definitions

  1. Piophila casei, a small fly whose larvae infest cheese and other foods

Ancestry of “cheese fly”, step by step

cheese fly traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English fly

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishflyAny insect of the order Diptera; characterized by...
2Middle EnglishflienTo fly; to travel in the air; To move in the sky;...
3Old Englishflēoganto fly
4Old English-endeequivalent of English -ing; suffix for present...
5Proto-West Germanic*-andī
6Proto-Germanic-andz
7Proto-Indo-European-óntsDerives nouns denoting body parts
8Hungarianöntto pour; to cast; accusative singular of ön
9Hungarianönyou
10Hungarianön-self-
11Turkishönfront
12Ottoman Turkishاوكvoice (of human or animal); sound
13Proto-Turkicǖnsound, voice

via English cheese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcheeseA dairy product made from curdled or cultured...
2EnglishcheesyOverdramatic, excessively emotional or clichéd,...
3Middle Englishchesy
Every word from Proto-Turkic ǖn