gnat

From Middle English gnat, from Old English gnætt (“gnat; midge; mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic gnatt, gnattu, from Proto-Germanic gnattaz, gnattuz (“gnat”), from Proto-Indo-European gʰneHdʰn-, gʰneHd- (“to gnaw; scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰen- (“to gnaw; bite; scratch; grind”). Cognate with Low German Gnatte (“gnat”), dialectal Swedish gnatt (“mosquito”), German Gnatz (“scabs; rash; scabies; stinginess”). Related also gnit and gnaw.