Tsetse Fly - Etymology

Etymology

The word 'tsetse' means fly in Tswana, a language of southern Africa. Recently, 'tsetse' without the 'fly' has become more common in English, particularly in the scientific and development communities.

The pronunuciation of the word differs in different regions. Many African languages have an ejective ts sound and so a common pronunciation of the word involves two identical syllables both having this ts sound and a shorter sound of the vowel, as ts-eh-ts-eh. The British pronunciation of the word uses two different sounds for the two different syllables, generally tee-tsee. In Zimbabwe, it is generally pronounced tseh-tsee.

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