From a Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mews- (“fly”). Cognate with Old Church Slavonic моуха (muxa), Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa, “a fly”) (of which μυΐσκη (muḯskē) may be a diminutive form), Old Armenian մուն (mun, “gnat, midge; itch”), German Mücke (“midge”), and English midge, midget.