Musca

[ muhs-kuh ]

/ ˈmʌs kə /

Save This Word!

noun, genitive Mus·cae

[muhs-ee]. /ˈmʌs i/. Astronomy.

the Fly, a small southern constellation between Crux and Chamaeleon.

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of Musca

<New Latin, Latin: a fly

Words nearby Musca

mus., musaceous, Musaf, musar, Mus.B., Musca, muscadel, Muscadet, muscadin, muscadine, muscae volitantes

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Musca in a sentence

The star, called TYC 8998-760-1, is about 300 light-years away in the constellation Musca.
This is the first picture of a sunlike star with multiple exoplanets|Lisa Grossman|July 22, 2020|Science News
Its very name, too (Musca domestica), seemed a mockery, dwelling as it did in that vast solitude.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 461|Various
The Ox Fly (Musca bovina), a near relation of the house fly, is also very common.
The Insect World|Louis Figuier
The Anthomyides resemble the genus Musca very closely in their habits as well as in their organisation.
The Insect World|Louis Figuier

A fly (Musca domestica) lit on the pane and the pseudoscorpion caught its legs and clung while the fly crawled about.
Journal of Entomology and Zoology: Volume 6, Number 4, December 1914|Various
Just then a large fly, of the genus Musca, made its appearance, and soon became aware of the presence of the scorpion.
The Romance of Natural History, Second Series|Philip Henry Gosse

British Dictionary definitions for Musca

Musca

/ (ˈmʌskə) /

noun Latin genitive Muscae (ˈmʌskiː)

a small constellation in the S hemisphere lying between the Southern Cross and Chamaeleon

Word Origin for Musca

Latin: a fly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012