midge
/mɪd͡ʒ/noun
midge is spelled M-I-D-G-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Midge, the name). As a noun, midge means “Any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of midge is midges.
How many letters and syllables are in midge?
| Letters | 5: M-I-D-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is midge?
Midge appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Midge, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce midge?
- /mɪd͡ʒ/
Midge has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-midge.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with midge
Also written: midget.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of midge
- midges plural
- midgie
- midgy
- midgey
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does midge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera.
- 2
ScotlandA small, short or insignificant person.
- 3
Any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Midge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fly of family Chironomidae or Ceratopogonidae:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does midge come from?
From Middle English mydge, migge, from Old English myġġ, myċġ (“midge, gnat, mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic *muggju, from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mu-, *mew- (“fly, midge”). The dialectal sense of "short person" was originally figurative, and gave rise to midget (“short person”) via the diminutive suffix -et, which has since become part of standard English with that meaning; this has caused midge to undergo rebracketing as a clipping of midget.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).