louse

English

A head louse under illumination and magnified.

Etymology

From Middle English lous, lows, lowse, from Old English lūs, from Proto-West Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Indo-European *lewH-.

See also West Frisian lûs, Dutch luis, German Low German Luus, German Laus; also Welsh llau (“lice”), Tocharian B luwo, maybe Sanskrit यूका (yūkā).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /laʊs/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊs

Noun

louse (plural lice or (nonstandard) louses)

2. A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea.
3. (colloquial, dated, not usually used in plural form) A contemptible person; one who is deceitful or causes harm.
   • 1946, Joseph Thompson Shaw, The hard-boiled omnibus: early stories from Black Mask, page 388:

     He said: "Thanks, friend; but you're wasting your time. You better warn Crocker. If that louse makes a play for me, he'll get hit with Chicago lightning!"

   • 1949, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (song)

     It's then that those louses go back to their spouses. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

   • 1965 December, Phil Ochs, “That Was The Year That Weren't”, in Cavalier:

     […] as she raised her guitar for the last loud chord, an unseen louse let loose a rubber-tipped arrow that landed right on her dark-skinned forehead.

   • 1983 December 17, “GDMFSOB (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 22, page 17:

     After you get finished betraying all your friends, how long do you think it will be before you're all alone? You will age and die all alone. You are attractive but unloving and unlovable. You're the worst louse I have met in a long time. I hope you get what you deserve.

Usage notes

• When used as a term of abuse, the plural is typically louses, though lice is also possible.
• Informally, it is common to use the plural form lice attributively, e.g. lice check.

Synonyms

• (insect): (North America) arithmetic bug, cootie, leaping dandruff
• (contemptible person): maggot, worm

Derived terms

• bark louse
• bee louse
• body louse (Pediculus humanus)
• booklouse
• carp louse
• chewing louse
• chicken louse
• clover louse
• crab louse
• fish louse
• fishlouse
• flea-louse
• grape-louse
• green louse
• head louse
• headlouse
• hen louse
• jumping plant louse
• lazy louse
• leaf louse
• lens louse
• louse around
• louseborne
• louse fly
• louseless
• louselike
• louseling
• louser
• louse-ridden
• louse trap
• louse up
• lousewort
• lousicide
• lousy
• pea louse
• plant louse
• pricklouse
• pubic louse
• sea louse
• sheep louse
• sucking louse
• sugar louse
• three skips of a louse
• water louse
• whale louse
• woodlouse

Translations

an insect of the order Psocodea

• Abaza: цӏа (cʼa)
• Abkhaz: аҵа (acʼa)
• Acehnese: gutee
• Afrikaans: luis (af)
• Ainu: キ (ki), ウㇽキ (urki)
• Aklanon: kuto
• Albanian: morr (sq)
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Amuzgo:

  Guerrero Amuzgo: kítzkò

• Andi: ноцӏцӏи (noccʼi)
• Ao: atsük
• Apinayé: gô
• Arabic: قَمْلَة f (qamla), (collective) قَمْل m (qaml)

  Egyptian Arabic: قمل m (ʔaml) (collective), قملة f (ʔamla) (singulative)

  Gulf Arabic: قمل m (gamiḷ) (collective), قملة f (gamḷa) (singulative)

  Hijazi Arabic: قمل m (gamil) (collective), قملة f (gamla) (singulative)

  Juba Arabic: gomul

  Moroccan Arabic: قمل m (qmal) (collective), قملة f (qamla) (singulative)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܩܠܡܐ m (qalmā)

  Classical Syriac: ܩܠܡܐ m (qalmā)

• Archi: нацӏ (nacʼ)
• Armenian: ոջիլ (hy) (oǰil)
• Aromanian: piduclju
• Arrernte:

  Eastern Arrernte: arreme

• Assamese: ওকণি (ükoni)
• Asturian: pioyu (ast) m
• Avar: нацӏ (nacʼ)
• Aymara: lapʼa
• Azerbaijani: bit (az)
• Bashkir: бет (bet)
• Basque: zorri
• Bats: მაწ (mac̣)
• Belarusian: вош f (voš)
• Bengali: উকুন (bn) (ukun)
• Bezhta: нацо (naco)
• Bidayuh:

  Biatah Bidayuh: gutis

• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: kuto (bcl)

• Bislama: nakutu
• Brahui: بوڈ (boḍ)
• Breton: laou (br) (collective)
• Buginese: utu
• Bulgarian: въ́шка (bg) f (vǎ́ška)
• Burmese: သန်း (my) (san:)
• Burushaski: کھرو
• Caac: ciic
• Canela: incô
• Carolinian: ghúúw
• Carpathian Rusyn: уша f (uša)
• Catalan: poll (ca) m
• Cebuano: tuma
• Cèmuhî: i
• Chamicuro: nijpa
• Chechen: меза (meza)
• Chepang: क्रास् (body louse), स्रय्‍क्, सेक् (head louse)
• Chichewa: nsabwe
• Chin:

  Khumi Chin: ähi

  Tedim Chin: hik

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蝨乸 / 虱乸 (sat¹ naa²)

  Dungan: сыйзы (sɨyzɨ)

  Mandarin: 蝨子 / 虱子 (zh) (shīzi)

• Chuvash: пыйтӑ (pyjt̬ă)
• Comorian:

  Maore Comorian: ndra

  Ngazidja Comorian: nɗa

• Coptic: ⲕⲁⲕⲑⲓ (kakthi), ⲕⲁⲕⲧⲓ (kakti), ⲭⲁⲕⲑⲓ (khakthi) (Bohairic); ⲕⲁⲕⲧⲉ (kakte), ⲕⲁⲧⲕⲉ (katke) (Sahidic)
• Czech: veš (cs) f
• Dalmatian: pedoclo m
• Danish: lus (da) c
• Dutch: luis (nl) f
• Dyirbal: (Guwal) ^{(please verify)} bayi marbu, (Jalnguy) ^{(please verify)} bayi dimaniny
• Egyptian: (ktt m)
• Erzya: сий (sij)
• Esperanto: pediko (eo)
• Estonian: täi (et)
• Even: кумкэ (kumkə)
• Fala: piollu
• Fanagalo: ntwala
• Faroese: lús (fo) f
• Fijian: kutu (fj)
• Finnish: täi (fi) (common language), jäytiäinen (fi) (zoology)
• French: pou (fr) m
• Friulian: pedoli
• Fwâi: ciik
• Galician: piollo (gl) m
• Georgian: მკბენარი (mḳbenari), ტილი (ṭili)
• German: Laus (de) f
• Gorontalo: utu (gor)
• Greek: ψείρα (el) f (pseíra)

  Ancient Greek: φθείρ m (phtheír)

  Cappadocian Greek: φčείρ (fčeír)

  Pontic Greek: φθείρι (ftheíri)

  Tsakonian: ψεῖρα (pseῖra)

• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} ky (gn)

• Haitian Creole: pou
• Hawaiian: ʻuku
• Hebrew: כִּנָּה (he) f (kiná)
• Higaonon: tuma
• Hindi: जूँ (hi) f (jū̃)
• Hungarian: tetű (hu)
• Hunzib: на̇цǝ (nåcǝ)
• Icelandic: lús (is) f
• Ido: lauso (io)
• Ilocano: kuto
• Imonda: ku
• Indonesian: kutu (id)
• Ingrian: täi, popo (childish)
• Ingush: меза (meza)
• Iranun: kutu
• Irish: míol cnis m
• Italian: pidocchio (it) m
• Japanese: 虱 (ja) (しらみ, shirami), シラミ (ja) (shirami), 寄生虫 (ja) (きせいちゅう, kiseichū)
• Javanese: ꦠꦸꦩ (jv) (tuma)
• Jawe: ciik
• Jebero: čimɨŋ
• Kabuverdianu: piodju
• Kaingang: ga
• Kannada: ಹೇನು (kn) (hēnu)
• Kashmiri: please add this translation if you can
• Kashubian: wesz
• Kayah:

  Eastern Kayah: sò

• Kayapó: ngôre
• Kazakh: бит (bit)
• Khinalug: нимцӏ (nimc̣)
• Khmer: ចៃ (km) (cay), ដង្កែ (km) (dɑngkae), ឩកា (km) (ʼuukaa)
• Khvarshi: нуца (nuca)
• Korean: 이 (ko) (i)
• Kumak: chixic
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئەسپێ (espê)

  Laki: ئِسپِژ (ispij), شِش (ku) (şiş)

  Northern Kurdish: spih (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: سپیە (sipye)

• Kyrgyz: бит (ky) (bit)
• Lak: нацӏ (nacʼ)
• Lakota: hitka la
• Lao: ເຫົາ (hao), ເມັນ (men), ໄຮ (hai)
• Latin: pēdis (la) m
• Latvian: uts (lv) f
• Laz: მტი (mťi)
• Lezgi: нет (net)
• Lingala: sili, nsili, monsili
• Linngithigh: ibhi
• Lithuanian: utėlė f
• Livonian: tei
• Low German:

  German Low German: Luus f

• Lü: ᦠᧁ (ḣaw)
• Lushootseed: bəšč'ád
• Macedonian: вошка f (voška)
• Madurese: koto
• Maguindanao: kutu
• Makasar: kutu
• Malay: kutu (ms)

  Brunei Malay: kutu

• Malayalam: പേൻ (ml) (pēṉ)
• Maltese: qamla f
• Manchu: ᠴᡳᡥᡝ (cihe)
• Mansaka: koto, toma
• Mansi:

  Northern Mansi: та̄кум (tākum)

• Māori: kutu
• Maranao: tom
• Marathi: ऊ f (ū)
• Maxakalí: kut
• Megleno-Romanian: piducľu
• Melanau:

  Central Melanau: kutou

• Mingrelian: ტი (ṭi)
• Mizo: hrik
• Moksha: си (si)
• Mongolian: бөөс (mn) (böös), ᠪᠥᠭᠡᠰᠤ (bögesu)
• Nanai: чиктэ (čikte)
• Navajo: yaaʼ
• Neapolitan: perucchio m
• Nemi: ciik
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lus (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: lus f

• Occitan: pesolh (oc) m, mirgalhon m, piu (oc) m, peu (oc) m
• Odia: ଉକୁଣି (ukuṇi)
• Ohlone:

  Northern Ohlone: ká̄i

• Ojibwe: ikwa, ikwag pl
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: въшь f (vŭšĭ)

  Glagolitic: ⰲⱏⱎⱐ f (vŭšĭ)

• Old East Slavic: въшь f (vŭšĭ)
• Old English: lūs f
• Old Norse: lús f
• Ossetian: сыст (syst)
• Paicî: i
• Panará: kjãnkô
• Papiamentu: pieu
• Pará Gavião: nkô
• Pashto: سپږه (ps) f (spᶕźa)
• Persian: شِپِش (fa) (šepeš)
• Piedmontese: poj m
• Pije: ciik
• Plautdietsch: Lus (nds) f
• Polish: wesz (pl) f
• Portuguese: piolho (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਜੂੰ f (jū̃)
• Pykobjê: aacuu, amcuu, ẽhncuu
• Quechua: usa
• Rohingya: 𐴀𐴟𐴙𐴕 (uin)
• Romagnol: bdòcc m
• Romani: ʒuv f
• Romanian: păduche (ro) m
• Russian: вошь (ru) f (vošʹ), вши (ru) f pl (vši), во́шка (ru) f (vóška)
• Sango: sili (sg)
• Sanskrit: यूका (sa) f (yūkā)
• Sardinian: peogu, piogu, piduciu, piducru
• Savosavo: dole
• Scottish Gaelic: mial f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ваш f, уш f

  Latin: vaš (sh) f, uš (sh) f, vaška (sh) f

• Sherpa: ཤིག (shig)
• Shor: пит
• Sicilian: pidocchiu m
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: voš (sk) f
• Slovene: uš (sl) f
• Somali: injir (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: weš f

  Upper Sorbian: woš (hsb) f

• Spanish: piojo (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: loso
• Sundanese: otét
• Svan: ტიშ (ṭiš)
• Swahili: chawa (sw) class 9/10 sg pl
• Swedish: lus (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠃꠇꠂꠘ (ukoino)
• Tabasaran: ницц (nic̄)
• Tagalog: kuto
• Tajik: шабушк (tg) (šabušk)
• Talysh: اسبج (əsbəj)
• Tamil: பேன் (ta) (pēṉ)
• Tanana:

  Lower Tanana: yo'

• Tanapag: gúú
• Taos: phìayána
• Tapayuna: ngô
• Tarifit: tiššit f
• Tat: uşbuj
• Tatar: бет (tt) (bet)
• Tausug: kutu
• Telugu: పేను (te) (pēnu)
• Ternate: gani
• Tetum: utu
• Thai: เหา (th) (hǎo), โลน (th) (loon)

  Northern Thai: ᩉᩮᩢᩣ

• Tibetan: ཤིག (shig)
• Tok Pisin: laus
• Turkish: bit (tr)

  Khorasani Turkish: بیت

• Turkmen: bit (tk)
• Udi: нецӏ (nec̣)
• Udmurt: тэй (tej)
• Ukrainian: во́ша f (vóša)
• Unami: xaihu
• Urdu: جوں f (jū̃)
• Uyghur: پىت (pit)
• Uzbek: bit (uz)
• Vietnamese: rận (vi) (body louse), chí (vi), chấy (vi) (head louse)
• Vilamovian: łaojs f
• Volapük: puf (vo)
• Warlpiri: yaka
• Welsh: lleuen (cy) f, llau (cy) f pl
• Woiwurrung: moon-ong
• Xavante: u
• Xerénte: gó
• Xhosa: intwala class 9/10
• Yakut: быт (bït)
• Yámana: wam
• Yiddish: לויז f (loyz)
• Yuanga: ciii
• Zande: zari
• Zazaki: ıspıc c, espij c
• Zealandic: luus m
• Zhuang: naenz
• Zulu: intwala class 9/10
• ǃXóõ: (large) ʘnó̰õ, (small) gǁkxʼóni

worthless person

• Albanian: qelbanik (sq)
• Baluchi: بوڈ
• Bulgarian: гад (bg) m or f (gad)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 寄生虫 (zh) (jìshēngchǒng)

• Dutch: (arme) luis m
• Finnish: luopio (fi), hylkiö (fi), epatto (fi)
• French: salaud (fr) m, salaude (fr) f, salop (fr) m, salope (fr) f, salopard (fr) m, saloparde f
• Galician: piollo famento m
• German: Dreckskerl (de) m, Dreckkerl m, Lumpenhund m, Lumpenkerl (de) m
• Greek: κοπρόσκυλον n (kopróskylon), ασυνείδητος (el) m (asyneíditos)
• Macedonian: гнида f (gnida), вошкар m (voškar), гад m (gad)
• Polish: gnida (pl) f, menda (pl) f
• Portuguese: piolho (pt) m, sem-vergonha (pt) m or f, canalha (pt) m or f
• Romanian: păduche (ro) m
• Russian: гни́да (ru) m or f (gnída), гад (ru) m or f (gad), га́дская кровь m or f (gádskaja krovʹ)
• Slovak: všivák (sk) m, všivavec m
• Slovene: ušivec m, gnida f (highly pejorative)
• Spanish: sinvergüenza (es) m or f, canalla (es) m or f
• Swahili: chawa (sw)
• Swedish: skitstövel (sv), usling (sv)
• Tamil: தெண்டம் (teṇṭam), தண்டம் (ta) (taṇṭam)
• Telugu: పనికిమాలిన వ్యక్తి (panikimālina vyakti)
• Turkish: aşağılık kimse

Verb

louse (third-person singular simple present louses, present participle lousing, simple past and past participle loused)

1. To remove lice from; to delouse.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 108:

     There were a few wire-netted enclosures to keep young chickens from the hawks, but the fowls wandered at large, coming about the hut to ruffle their feathers in the dust, and louse themselves, and pick up scraps.

Synonyms

• delouse

Translations

To remove lice

• Arabic: قِمْلَة f (qimla)
• Bulgarian: пощя (bg) (poštja)
• Czech: odvšivit pf, odvšivovat impf
• Dutch: ontluizen (nl)
• French: épouiller (fr)
• German: lausen (de)
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} ky'o

• Polish: iskać (pl) impf
• Russian: иска́ть вшей (iskátʹ všej), вычёсывать вшей (vyčósyvatʹ všej)
• Spanish: despiojar (es)

Anagrams

• Eolus, Seoul, Soule, eusol, loues, oules, ousel, soule

Galician

Verb

louse

1. inflection of lousar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Middle English

Noun

louse

1. alternative form of lous