tsetse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any blood-feeding African fly of the genus Glossina, some species of which transmit trypanosomes that cause sleeping sickness in humans and disease in livestock

   The field team used blue traps to monitor tsetse populations near the river.

Borrowed from Tswana tsetse, a name for the fly, and spread through southern African usage into English. The word is often used attributively in tsetse fly. Its unusual initial consonant cluster preserves the source-language pronunciation more closely than many English loans.

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