Slang louse (sense ): now chiefly a child's term
Origin of cootie
British World War I army slang, earlier a seaman's term from Malay kutu, dog tickcootie
coo·tieWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"cootie." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie>.
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cootie. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie
cootie
noun
SlangA body louse.
Origin of cootie
Probably from Malay kutuTHE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"cootie." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie>.
APA Style
cootie. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie
Noun
(plural cooties)
- (North America, colloquial) A louse.
- (North America, colloquial, childish, usually 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.
- (rare) A nest-building female American Coot (counterpart to cooter).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"cootie." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie>.
APA Style
cootie. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie
cootie - Medical Definition
n.
Slang
A body louse.
The American Heritage Dictionary of Medicine © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"cootie." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie>.
APA Style
cootie. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie
