The superlative form of deadly; the most dangerous or most likely to cause death.
From Old English 'deaddlic' (from 'dead' + '-lic' meaning 'like'). The '-est' suffix marks the superlative form. The term evolved to mean both literally causing death and figuratively extremely harmful or severe.
Mosquitoes are actually the deadliest animal to humans—killing over 700,000 people annually through disease transmission—way more than snakes, sharks, or any predator you'd expect!
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