cootie

noun

coo·tie ˈkü-tē How to pronounce cootie (audio)

plural cooties

informal : body louse

No, I haven't any cooties. I took off my shirt a few days ago to make a louse investigation, but found none of the creatures.

Donald E. Carey

During World War I, the "cootie" was credited with saving American soldiers' lives fighting in the trenches. Soldiers kept bending down to kill the bugs biting their legs, which kept them from getting wounded or killed.

The Avenue News (Essex Maryland)

also : head louse

She bent into an enamel pan on an old pine table in the yard, and I lathered her head. "Dig in," she said. "Get them cooties where they live."

Richard Peck

cooties plural, slang, in children's play : an imaginary contagious disease thought of especially as being passed between boys and girls

Every little girl knows that boys have cooties, and vice versa. One catches cooties by—eww!—touching.

Jane C. Hu

His worldview as a 5-year-old boy was that girls had cooties, and he wasn't interested.

Bill Lohmann

… their touch transfers cooties (which girls can give to boys and to girls but boys can only give to girls).

Naomi Gerstel

—sometimes used before another noun

My son, who is 19, told me the disease was so rampant when he was in grammar school that he had to get over 100 cootie shots [=pretend vaccinations against cooties].

Mark Patinkin

also : a game involving the spread of cooties

I long for the simpler days when kids played cooties and Little League.

Jeff Jarvis

slang, humorous : a germ or harmful microbe whether imaginary or real

I well recall a girlfriend of two decades ago who made bathing sound like a heinous character flaw. "How can you lie in water that's full of your own cooties and expect to get clean?" she said.

Jay Stuller

They'll meet online so we all can participate without crowding into a cootie-prone room.

Dakota Free Press (South Dakota)

Cootie plural Cooties : a member of a service association of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that provides social support and entertainment to veterans and their families

"For years he took me … to Martha T. Berry hospital and others, as a 'Cootie' delivering loads of books, magazines, packages of goodies and toiletries. …"

Anita Kelly

From their bright uniforms to their fun-loving way of life, Cooties bring smiles and laughter to those "who most need it."

Janie Dyhouse

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Seats on the patio filled steadily, but the spaciousness kept any residual cootie fears at bay.

Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 26 Feb. 2021 This is why lunch with friends is important, particularly in times when the gym’s a potential cootie factory.

Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Sep. 2020 The seats will be movable, positioned far enough apart so driver and passenger don't need to trade cooties.

Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 31 May 2019 And swaths of West’s celebrity follower-base responded to his tweets by clicking unfollow, likely fearing the virtual transmission of career-threatening Trump cooties.

Michael Andor Brodeur, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2018 The feminization of ambisexual terms seems to me to reflect the logic of cooties.

Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 May 2018 And relationship advice (even though they're supposed to believe in cooties).

Samantha Brodsky, Good Housekeeping, 18 Aug. 2017 Whether those respondents were looking for something cheaper, bigger, gadgetier, or merely free of other people's cooties, builders responded to that new demand.

Daniel Mcginn, WIRED, 24 Dec. 2007 See More

Word History

Etymology

of uncertain origin; (sense 4) after the Military Order of the Cooties, the organization's original name, alluding to the "cooties" (lice) that plagued soldiers in the trenches

Note: This word has at times been seen as a borrowing from Malay kutu "any of various parasitic biting insects," or a cognate form in another Austronesian language, with the ending conformed to -ie. (See forms under "louse" in R. Blust and S. Trussel, The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, online.) The earliest records of coot and cootie "body louse," and cooty "infested with lice" are in letters and journals of British soldiers, or Americans in British service, in the trenches of Belgium and France. The American Harold Chapin, fighting in the British Army, used cooty and coot in letters written in April and September, 1915, prior to his death in the Battle of Loos on September 26. By 1917 the word was in general use among British and American soldiers. There is no indication in any of the early records of a connection with Southeast Asia or Oceania, which might be the case if coot(y) was a loanword from that region. Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, suggests that the adjective cooty "infested with lice," may have been the basis for the other forms, and alludes to the bird coot, which was reputed to have been heavily infested with parasites; compare the expression "as lousy as a coot," attested regionally in England since ca. 1864.

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1

单词	cootie
释义	cootie noun coo·tie ˈkü-tē plural cooties 1 informal : body louse No, I haven't any cooties. I took off my shirt a few days ago to make a louse investigation, but found none of the creatures. Donald E. Carey During World War I, the "cootie" was credited with saving American soldiers' lives fighting in the trenches. Soldiers kept bending down to kill the bugs biting their legs, which kept them from getting wounded or killed. The Avenue News (Essex Maryland) also : head louse She bent into an enamel pan on an old pine table in the yard, and I lathered her head. "Dig in," she said. "Get them cooties where they live." Richard Peck 2 cooties plural, slang, in children's play : an imaginary contagious disease thought of especially as being passed between boys and girls Every little girl knows that boys have cooties, and vice versa. One catches cooties by—eww!—touching. Jane C. Hu His worldview as a 5-year-old boy was that girls had cooties, and he wasn't interested. Bill Lohmann … their touch transfers cooties (which girls can give to boys and to girls but boys can only give to girls). Naomi Gerstel —sometimes used before another noun My son, who is 19, told me the disease was so rampant when he was in grammar school that he had to get over 100 cootie shots [=pretend vaccinations against cooties]. Mark Patinkin also : a game involving the spread of cooties I long for the simpler days when kids played cooties and Little League. Jeff Jarvis 3 slang, humorous : a germ or harmful microbe whether imaginary or real I well recall a girlfriend of two decades ago who made bathing sound like a heinous character flaw. "How can you lie in water that's full of your own cooties and expect to get clean?" she said. Jay Stuller They'll meet online so we all can participate without crowding into a cootie-prone room. Dakota Free Press (South Dakota) 4 Cootie plural Cooties : a member of a service association of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that provides social support and entertainment to veterans and their families "For years he took me … to Martha T. Berry hospital and others, as a 'Cootie' delivering loads of books, magazines, packages of goodies and toiletries. …" Anita Kelly From their bright uniforms to their fun-loving way of life, Cooties bring smiles and laughter to those "who most need it." Janie Dyhouse see also cootie catcher Example Sentences Recent Examples on the Web Seats on the patio filled steadily, but the spaciousness kept any residual cootie fears at bay. Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 26 Feb. 2021 This is why lunch with friends is important, particularly in times when the gym’s a potential cootie factory. Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Sep. 2020 The seats will be movable, positioned far enough apart so driver and passenger don't need to trade cooties. Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 31 May 2019 And swaths of West’s celebrity follower-base responded to his tweets by clicking unfollow, likely fearing the virtual transmission of career-threatening Trump cooties. Michael Andor Brodeur, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2018 The feminization of ambisexual terms seems to me to reflect the logic of cooties. Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 May 2018 And relationship advice (even though they're supposed to believe in cooties). Samantha Brodsky, Good Housekeeping, 18 Aug. 2017 Whether those respondents were looking for something cheaper, bigger, gadgetier, or merely free of other people's cooties, builders responded to that new demand. Daniel Mcginn, WIRED, 24 Dec. 2007 See More Word History Etymology of uncertain origin; (sense 4) after the Military Order of the Cooties, the organization's original name, alluding to the "cooties" (lice) that plagued soldiers in the trenches Note: This word has at times been seen as a borrowing from Malay kutu "any of various parasitic biting insects," or a cognate form in another Austronesian language, with the ending conformed to -ie. (See forms under "louse" in R. Blust and S. Trussel, The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, online.) The earliest records of coot and cootie "body louse," and cooty "infested with lice" are in letters and journals of British soldiers, or Americans in British service, in the trenches of Belgium and France. The American Harold Chapin, fighting in the British Army, used cooty and coot in letters written in April and September, 1915, prior to his death in the Battle of Loos on September 26. By 1917 the word was in general use among British and American soldiers. There is no indication in any of the early records of a connection with Southeast Asia or Oceania, which might be the case if coot(y) was a loanword from that region. Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, suggests that the adjective cooty "infested with lice," may have been the basis for the other forms, and alludes to the bird coot, which was reputed to have been heavily infested with parasites; compare the expression "as lousy as a coot," attested regionally in England since ca. 1864. First Known Use 1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Phrases Containing cootie cootie catcher cootie shots cootie catcher cootie shots Medical Definition cootie noun coo·tie ˈküt-ē informal : body louse also : head louse
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cootie

noun

Example Sentences

Word History

Phrases Containing cootie

Medical Definition

noun