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 louses)

A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea.
(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.

Usage notes

When used as a term of abuse, the plural is typically louses, though lice is also possible.

Synonyms

(insect): (North America) cootie
(contemptible person): maggot, worm

Derived terms

body louse (Pediculus humanus)
booklouse
crab louse
head louse
hen louse
louser
louse-ridden
lousy
pubic louse
sea louse
three skips of a louse

Translations

an insect of the order Psocodea

Abaza: цӏа (cʼa)
Abkhaz: аҵа (acʼa)
Acehnese: gutee
Afrikaans: luis
Ainu: キ (ki)
Aklanon: kuto
Albanian: morr (sq)
Andi: ноцӏцӏи (noccʼi)
Apinayé: gô
Arabic: قَمْلَة‎ f (qamla), (collective) قَمْل‎ m (qaml)
Egyptian Arabic: قمل‎ m (ʾaml) (collective), قملة‎ f (ʾamla) (singulative)
Hijazi Arabic: قمل‎ m (gamil) (collective), قملة‎ f (gamla) (singulative)
Moroccan Arabic: قمل‎ m (qmal) (collective), قملة‎ f (qamla) (singulative)
Archi: нацӏ (nacʼ)
Armenian: ոջիլ (hy) (oǰil)
Aromanian: piduclju
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)
Biatah Bidayuh: gutis
Bikol Central: kuto (bcl)
Bislama: nakutu
Breton: laou (br) (collective)
Brunei Malay: kutu
Buginese: utu
Bulgarian: въ́шка (bg) f (vǎ́ška)
Burmese: သန်း (my) (san:)
Canela: incô
Cappadocian Greek: φčείρ (fčeír)
Catalan: poll (ca) m
Cebuano: tuma
Central Melanau: kutou
Chamicuro: nijpa
Chechen: меза (meza)
Chepang: क्रास्‌ (body louse), स्रय्‍क्‌, सेक्‌ (head louse)
Chichewa: nsabwe
Chinese:
Cantonese: 蝨乸 (sat¹ naa²)
Dungan: сыйзы (sɨyzɨ)
Mandarin: 蝨子／虱子 (zh) (shīzi)
Chuvash: пыйтӑ (pyjt̬ă)
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
Eastern Arrernte: arreme
Eastern Kayah: sò
Erzya: сий (sij)
Esperanto: pediko (eo)
Estonian: täi (et)
Even: кумкэ (kumkə)
Faroese: lús (fo) f
Fijian: kutu (fj)
Finnish: täi (fi)
French: pou (fr) m
Friulian: pedoli
Galician: piollo (gl) m
Georgian: მკბენარი (mḳbenari), ტილი (ṭili)
German: Laus (de) f
Gorontalo: utu
Greek: ψείρα (el) f (pseíra)
Ancient: φθείρ m (phtheír)
Guerrero Amuzgo: kítzkò
Haitian Creole: pou
Hawaiian: ʻuku
Hebrew: כִּנָּה‎ (he) f (kiná)
Higaonon: tuma
Hindi: जूँ (hi) f (jū̃)
Hungarian: tetű (hu)
Hunzib: на̇цǝ (nȧcǝ), наъцә (nåcə)
Icelandic: lús (is) f
Ido: lauso (io)
Ilocano: kuto
Imonda: ku
Indonesian: kutu (id)
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)
Jebero: čimɨŋ
Kabuverdianu: piodju
Kaingang: ga
Kannada: ಹೇನು (kn) (hēnu)
Kashubian: wesz
Kayapó: ngôre
Kazakh: бит (kk) (bit)
Khinalug: нимцӏ (nimc̣)
Khmer: ចៃ (km) (cay), ដង្កែ (km) (dɑngkae)
Khumi Chin: ähi
Khvarshi: нуца (nuca)
Korean: 이 (ko) (i)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ئەسپێ‎ (ku) (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)
Lithuanian: utėlė f
Livonian: tei
Low German:
German Low German: Luus f
Lü: ᦠᧁ (ḣaw)
Lutshootseed: bəšč'ád
Macedonian: вошка f (voška)
Madurese: koto
Maguindanao: kutu
Makasar: kutu
Malay: kutu (ms)
Malayalam: പേൻ (ml) (pēṉ)
Maltese: qamla f
Manchu: ᠴᡳᡥᡝ (cihe)
Mansaka: koto, toma
Maori: kutu
Maranao: tom
Marathi: ऊ f (ū)
Maxakalí: kut
Mingrelian: ტი (ṭi)
Mizo: hrik
Moksha: си (si)
Mongolian: бөөс (mn) (böös), ᠪᠥᠭᠡᠰᠤ (bögesu)
Nanai: чиктэ
Navajo: yaaʼ
Neapolitan: perucchio m
Ngazidja Comorian: nɗa
Northern Ohlone: ká̄i
Northern Thai: ᩉᩮᩢᩣ
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lus (no) m or f
Nynorsk: lus f
Occitan: pesolh (oc) m, mirgalhon m, piu (oc) m, peu (oc) m
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
Oriya: ଉକୁଣି (ukuṇi)
Ossetian: сыст (syst)
Panará: kjãnkô
Papiamentu: pieu
Pará Gavião: nkô
Pashto: سپږه‎ (ps) f (spᶕźa)
Persian: شِپِش‎ (fa) (šepeš)
Piedmontese: poj m
Plautdietsch: Lus f
Polish: wesz (pl) f
Pontic Greek: φθείρι (ftheíri)
Portuguese: piolho (pt) m
Punjabi: ਜੂੰ f (jū̃)
Pykobjê: aacuu, amcuu, ẽhncuu
Quechua: usa
Romagnol: bdòcc m
Romani: ʒuv f
Romanian: păduche (ro) m
Russian: вошь (ru) f (vošʹ), вши (ru) f pl (vši), во́шка (ru) f (vóška)
Rusyn: уша f (uša)
Sanskrit: यूका (sa) f (yūkā)
Sardinian: peogu, piogu, piduciu, piducru
Scottish Gaelic: mial f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ваш f, уш f
Roman: vaš (sh) f, uš (sh) f, vaška (sh) f
Sherpa: ཤིག (shig)
Shor: пит
Sicilian: pidocchiu m
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
Sundanese: ᮇᮒᮦᮒ᮪ (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)
Taos: phìayána
Tapayuna: ngô
Tatar: бет (tt) (bet)
Tausug: kutu
Tedim Chin: hik
Telugu: పేను (te) (pēnu)
Ternate: gani
Tetum: utu
Thai: เหา (th) (hǎo), โลน (th) (loon)
Tibetan: ཤིག (shig)
Tok Pisin: laus
Tsakonian: ψεῖρα (pseîra)
Turkish: bit (tr)
Turkmen: bit (tk)
Udi: нецӏ (nec̣)
Udmurt: тэй (tej)
Ukrainian: во́ша f (vóša)
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
Xavante: u
Xerénte: gó
Xhosa: intwala class 9/10
Yakut: быт (bıt)
Yámana: wam
Yiddish: לויז‎ f (loyz)
Zazaki: ıspıc (diq) c, espij c
Zealandic: luus m
Zhuang: naenz
Zulu: intwala class 9/10
ǃXóõ: (large) ʘnó̰õ, (small) gǁkxʼóni

worthless person

Albanian: qelbanik (sq)
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 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)
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)

To remove lice from; to delouse.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, OCLC 751607287, 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)
French: épouiller (fr)
German: lausen (de)
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

Middle English

Noun

louse

Alternative form of lous