Animals, plants & weather

tsetse

The Tswana word for 'fly' became, in the mouths of 19th-century travellers in southern Africa, the English name of the blood-sucking fly that spreads sleeping sickness; Livingstone's best-seller and colonial medicine then carried it into every European language and beyond.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Tswana to Afrikaans

From English to French

From English to German

From English to Portuguese

From English to Spanish

From English to Italian

From English to Russian

From English to Polish

From English to Japanese

1800Tswana

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

Export “tsetse”

Embed “tsetse”

Save “tsetse”

Export “tsetse”

Embed “tsetse”

Save “tsetse”