Meaning

3 senses

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

    Laus

    вошьvošʹ, вшиvši, во́шкаvóška

    во́шаvóša

    wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm-blooded animals

  2. (colloquial, dated)A contemptible person; one who is deceitful or causes harm.

    Dreckskerl, Dreckkerl, Lumpenhund

    гни́даgnída, гадgad, га́дская кровьgádskaja krovʹ

    a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect

  3. (slang)The currency sign ¤.

Examples

24 sentences

  1. Tom has lice.

    deTom hat Läuse. — Tom9358

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Anyone can get head lice.

    CM · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Lice are a real problem.

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Clothes make people, rags make lice.

    deKleider machen Leute, Lumpen machen Läuse. — Esperantostern

    Flargus · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. This child is full of lice.

    Rafik · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
an insect of the order Psocodea:
Русский
By meaning 2
an insect of the order Psocodea:
worthless person:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
an insect of the order Psocodea:
worthless person:

Origin

From Middle English lous, lows, lowse, from Old English lūs, from Proto-West Germanic *lūs

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

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: lice
Singularlouse
Plurallice

irregular · Lesson

Synonyms

11 synonyms
maggotC2wormB2arithmetic bugcootieleaping dandruff
Close in meaning
  • wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm-blooded animals:sucking louse
  • any of several small insects especially aphids that feed by sucking the juices from plants:plant louse
  • a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect:worminsectdirt ball
  • wingless insect with mouth parts adapted for biting; mostly parasitic on birds:bird lousebiting louse

Word family

40 related words
Relatedlousy
Derivedbark lousebee lousebody lousebooklousecarp lousechewing lousechicken louseclover lousecrab lousefish louseflea-lousegrape-lousegreen lousehead lousehen louselazy louseleaf louselouse aroundlousebornelouse flylouselesslouselikelouselinglouser

Lessons for this word

1 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
loudlyA2loudspeakerB1loungelousyB2lovableloveA1

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

louse — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto