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fruit fly

fruit fly

14 2.6
A small flying insect whose young eat and spoil ripe or rotten fruit
  • noun
  • /frut flaɪ/
translation icon : mosca de la fruta
  • How does a fruit fly get into my apartment?
  • Mexican fruit fly
  • Mediterranean fruit fly
  • Oriental fruit fly

And Craig decodes the the fruit fly genome and says, come to Solara.

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Examples

  • HDOA is excited about the potential that the fruit fly program is opening up for the state.

    Academic text (2004)
  • PHOTO (COLOR): Helping community members suppress fruit flies is a major goal of the fruit fly management program.

    Academic text (2004)
  • The life cycle of the fruit fly.

  • And then one day I went to go water that plant and there was a fruit fly that flew out of the soil.

  • This is the first time the entire brain of an adult fruit fly has been mapped.

  • Persimmons are a popular fruit crop in Hawaii, but many orchards were abandoned as fruit fly problems got worse.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Hello, this is Bridget Jones, and I'm delighted to have Mr Walliker on the show today to help us understand the life cycle of the fruit fly.

  • Fruit flies often appear when there is rotten fruit fly left out on the counter.

  • He covered the bowl of fruit fly to keep the fruit flies away.

  • After cleaning the kitchen, I noticed fewer fruit fly buzzing around.

Synonyms

medfly
vsfruit fly
  • Specialized
3 9.3

A small fly that lays eggs inside fruit and damages crops

is the broader term for small insects whose larvae feed on fruit
drosophila
vsfruit fly
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A small fruit fly used to study genes in labs

is the common insect term focused on damage and presence near decay
1 5.2

A small black and white fly whose young eat the inside of fruit

is the general small pest that feeds on and damages fruit, often near decay
pomace fly
vsfruit fly
  • Specialized
8.3

A small insect whose young eat rotten fruit like very ripe bananas

is broader, covering small insects that damage fruit or nearby vegetables
vinegar fly
vsfruit fly
8.4

A small fly that lays eggs on rotting fruit or open jars of sweet food

is more general, covering larvae that damage fruit not only fermenting ones
Ceratitis capitata
vsfruit fly
  • Specialized
9.9

A small black and white fruit fly that lays eggs inside fruit like oranges

is the everyday label for small insects causing fruit damage in general
Rhagoletis pomonella
vsfruit fly
  • Specialized
9.9

A small fly whose young, called apple maggots, grow inside and eat apples

is more general, applying to small pests that eat many kinds of fruit

Surface Forms

fruit fly singular
fruit flies plural

Morphology

fruit + fly

The noun-noun compound is compositionally transparent: 'fruit' modifies 'fly', yielding a fly associated with or found near fruit, which matches the provided definition. This follows a common cross-linguistic compounding pattern for pests, so a B1 learner who knows 'fruit' and 'fly' will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The name fruit fly comes from a simple picture: a small fly that gathers on soft or rotten fruit and lays eggs there, so the young feed on the fruit. So, fruit fly means 'a small fly that lives on or near fruit'.