Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “whitefly” come from?

Whitefly comes from English white and Middle English flien from Old English flȳġe from Proto-Germanic fleuganą meaning to fly, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European plew-.

whitefly (English): Any of various small insects of the family...

Definitions

  1. Any of various small insects of the family...

Ancestry of “whitefly”, step by step

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 Turkishاوك—
13Proto-Turkicǖnsound, voice
Every word from Proto-Turkic ǖn →