cootie
1 Americannoun
plural
cooties-
a louse, especially one affecting humans, as the body louse, head louse, or pubic louse.
-
a child's term for an imaginary germ or disease that one can catch by touching a person who is disliked or socially avoided.
The girls at camp thought the boys had cooties.
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of cootie1
First recorded in 1910–15; of disputed origin; perhaps from Malay kutu “louse” (akin to Chamorro hutu, Hawaiian 'uku, Maori kutu, Tagalog kuto ), with final syllable conformed to -ie; perhaps an elaboration of obsolete coot “louse,” after coot ( def. ) (compare as lousy as a coot “infested with lice”)
Origin of cootie2
First recorded in 1775–85; variant of Scots cood, of uncertain origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Many of these are visual: The sorting hat is depicted as an enormous cootie catcher, while butterbeer is represented by beer bottles with Land O’Lakes labels tacked onto them.
From Slate • May 17, 2018
Lice dancing: Shake, shake, shake, shake your cootie .
From Washington Post • Nov. 12, 2015
During World War I the cootie was a joke to many people who had never been bitten by one.
From Time Magazine Archive
Given the thankless task of watching over troops on leave, rounding up stragglers during battle, the Military Police got in the soldiers' hair as incessantly as the cootie.
From Time Magazine Archive
He’d heard the word so often—mostly from Maria—he’d thought it was only a swear word, like dumdum or cootie face.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
