Flyspeck / noun / fly·​speck

The word flyspeck is used as a noun in English to denote small black spots of house fly excrement or to describe situations and people seen as insignificant or of little importance.

In a Sentence

She threw out the rotted fruit when she found tiny flyspecks all over the countertops and fruit bowls.

The rescue agency's dent in the natural disaster was just a flyspeck compared to what was needed to restore power.

He was upset to find a flyspeck on his new silk shirt when it arrived in a box from Amazon and wanted to return it.

Etymology

The word flyspeck was derived by combining the words “fly” and “speck” sometime in the 14th century. Etymologists say flyspeck entered the language from the Middle English word flyspic, which was originally a variant of flea speck. In its current spelling, flyspeck became popular in English sometime in the 17th century. It is still used today to refer to small dots of fly excrement, and situations, people, or events deemed as trivial and insignificant.

Synonym

Dot, Triviality

Antonym

Importance, Distinction