different between cootie vs lice

English

Etymology

Probably from Malay kutu (“flea, louse”) (and/or Tagalog/Maori). First attested in English in 1917 as British army slang during World War I.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /?ku?ti/

Noun

cootie (plural cooties)

1. (dated, British Army military slang) A louse (Pediculus humanus).
2. (Canada, US, colloquial) A louse (Pediculus humanus).
   • 1921, L. M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside

     "Tell Rilla I'm glad her war-baby is turning out so well, and tell Susan that I'm fighting a good fight against both Huns and cooties."

     "Mrs. Dr. dear," whispered Susan solemnly, "what are cooties?"

     Mrs. Blythe whispered back and then said in reply to Susan's horrified ejaculations, "It's always like that in the trenches, Susan."

     Susan shook her head and went away in grim silence to re-open a parcel she had sewed up for Jem and slip in a fine tooth comb.

3. (Canada, US, colloquial, childish, usually in the plural) Any germ or contaminant, real or imagined, especially from the opposite gender (for pre-pubescent children).

   I’m not drinking from his glass until I wash the cooties off it.

4. (rare) A nest-building female American coot (counterpart to cooter).
5. (rare, slang) A sideswiper, a type of telegraph key.

Hyponyms

• (germ or contaminant): boy germ, girl germ

Derived terms

• cootie catcher
• crazy as a cootie, crazy as a cootie bug

Translations

See also

• lurgy

Scots

Etymology 1

Diminutive of cood possibly influenced by kittie (“a large washing-chamber”).

Noun

cootie (plural cooties)

1. (obsolete) A wooden dish or tub for kitchen use.

References

• “cood” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Etymology 2

Possibly from coot (“ankle”).

Adjective

cootie

1. Having feathers on the legs.

   a cootie hen

   • 1876, Robert Burns, Tam Samson's Elegy:

     Ye cootie moorcocks

References

• “cootie” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la?s/
• Rhymes: -a?s

Noun

lice

1. plural of louse

Anagrams

• -icle, Celi, ICLE, ILEC, Icel., ceil, ciel

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lis/
• Homophones: lices, lis, lisse, lissent, lisses, lys

Etymology 1

From Frankish *listia.

Noun

lice f (plural lices)

1. (fortifications) curtain wall
2. (historical) pomerium
3. (by extension) list, field (for combat); playing field; arena

   Il est entré en lice. He came into contention.

Derived terms

• en lice

Etymology 2

Probably from Vulgar Latin *licia, from Latin lycisca, feminine of lyciscus (“wolf dog”).

Noun

lice f (plural lices)

1. (archaic) brach, bitch hound (specifically, dog used for breeding hunting dogs)

Further reading

• “lice” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???c?/

Noun

lice f sg

1. Alternative form of leice: genitive singular of leac

Further reading

• "lice" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Latin

Verb

lic?

1. second-person singular present active imperative of lice?

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lit?s?/, [?l?it?s?]

Verb

lice

1. third-person plural present of licy?

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?k???/

Noun

lice f

1. genitive singular of leac

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lice.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??t?se/
• Hyphenation: li?ce

Noun

líce n (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. face

   (translated name of the film "Face Off")

2. (grammar) person

3. (Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia) person, individual

Declension

See also

• obraz

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lice, from Proto-Indo-European *l?g-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lì?t?s?/, /lí?t?s?/
• Hyphenation: li?ce

Noun

l?ce n

1. (anatomy) cheek
2. (anatomy, archaic) face

Inflection

Related terms

• obràz

Further reading

• “lice”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran