What does “skeeters” mean in Southern American English?

Skeeters is the Southern American English nickname for mosquitoes. Southern English likes to cut longer words shorter and softer: fixing to becomes fixin', youngsters becomes young’uns, and mosquitoes becomes skeeters. The shorter form sounds friendlier and easier to say.

In this clip, a babysitter takes the kids outside and says, “there’s lots of skeeters down here in the South, so we gotta use some bug spray.” Southern summers are famous for bugs, and skeeter is a common word for them across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. You’ll hear it from grandparents, parents, and kids alike. Some Southern towns even have “skeeter trucks” that spray for bugs.