nit

Nits are the eggs or young of small parasitic insects, most commonly lice. They are especially called this when they are attached to hair.

Nit is the basis of the word nitpick. Nit is also used as an insult referring to a stupid person, though in this case it’s a shortening of the word nitwit, which may or may not be related.

Example: Your scalp won’t be free of lice until you remove all the nits.

The first records of nit come from before the 900s. It comes from the Old English hnitu, and many languages have similar words that all mean the same thing.

Lice have plagued humans for ages, and to get rid of every last louse (the singular form of lice) you have to pick out every last nit. The image of picking nits out of someone’s hair gives us the word nitpick (or nit–pick), meaning “to point out the very minor flaws or mistakes in something.” People sometimes use the word nit (in humorous reference to the word nitpick) as a noun meaning “a minor issue, flaw, or complaint,” as in I have just a few nits to pick with your paper.

Nit can be synonymous with nitwit (“a stupid or foolish person”), but the origin of nit in nitwit is uncertain. It may be a reference to louse eggs (which is a pretty sick insult), but it could also derive from an informal German word for not. The origin of nitty in nitty-gritty is also uncertain.

Nit is also used in a few contexts that are completely unrelated to louse eggs. In Australian slang, to keep nit is to keep watch. In physics, it’s a unit that measures luminance. In information science, a nit is a unit of information equal to 1.44 bits, also called a nepit. The word knit is completely unrelated.

What are some synonyms for nit?

• louse egg
• nitwit

What are some words that share a root or word element with nit? 

• nitpick

What are some words that often get used in discussing nit?

• lice
• louse
• egg
• larva
• young
• hair
• pick

What are some words nit may be commonly confused with?

• knit

Nit is most commonly used in discussions of lice.

“No nit” lice policies don’t follow the science. https://t.co/XQ6fY1eGPC

— Science News (@ScienceNews) June 18, 2019

Just found out that “nits” are baby lice, so “nit-picking” is actually SUPER valid and understandable.

— Colette Des Georges (@ColetteorCoco) June 20, 2018

4th and 1 at midfield and a punt? Come on Carroll, don't be such a nit. Try to think like belechick, not holmgren…

— coffee_mike (@coffee_mike) December 15, 2013

Is nit used correctly in the following sentence? 

I’d rather be called a nitpicker than pick actual nits.