louse
/laʊs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.60 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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!""
- "It's then that those louses go back to their spouses. Diamonds are a girl's best friend."
- "[…] 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."
- "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."
- "‘Nor have I combed, washed or loused myself this six months past, there being so few daring deeds to do on this Highway.’"
- "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."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewH-? Proto-Germanic *lūs Proto-West Germanic *lūs Old English lūs Middle English lous English louse From Middle English lous, lows, lowse, from Old English lūs, from Proto-West Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Indo-European *lewH-. Cognate with West Frisian lûs, Dutch luis, German Low German Luus, German Laus, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish lus, Faroese and Icelandic lús; also Welsh llau (“lice”), Tocharian B luwo, maybe Sanskrit यूका (yūkā).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /laʊs/