Mosquitoes are small, midge-like flies that constitute the family Culicidae. Females of most species are ectoparasites, whose tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) pierce the hosts' skin to consume blood. The word mosquito (formed by mosca and diminutive -ito) is Spanish for little fly.
It is derived from the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru refaring to the grey kangaroo. Sir Joseph Banks, botanist on James Cook's first voyage, noted the name of the kangaroo as  gangurru  when he tried to communicate with the Aborigines regarding the name of the strange hopping animal noted on Australia's shores.he word is â¦ believed to have come from the Aboriginal word gangurru, a Guugu Yimidhirr word referring to the Grey Kangaroo. Captain James Cook's botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, first recorded the word as kangaru when the Endeavour was damaged on the Great Barrier Reef near modern-day Cooktown.
Word Origin & History. moniker 1849, said to be originally a hobo term (but attested in London underclass from 1851), of uncertain origin; perhaps from monk (monks and nuns take new names with their vows, and early 19c. British tramps referred to themselves as in the monkery).