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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “Flittermouse” come from and What does Flittermouse mean?

Where does the word “Flittermouse” come from and What does Flittermouse mean?

April 19, 2020 by Karen Hill

The Flittermouse isn’t a mouse, for it has wings, and mice don’t.

But it does fly rather swiftly and dartingly, so it can be said to flitter, and being a mammal with a body not unlike that of a mouse in size, and sometimes in color, it is not surprising that this creature was known to our ancestors as a flittermouse, after the German Fledermaus or the Dutch vledermuis.

But the older and better-known English name was back, a name now lost in English dialects, though remaining as bawkie-bird in Scotland.

Today we know this flying mammal as a bat.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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