cootie
/ˈkuːti/noun
cootie is spelled C-O-O-T-I-E: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cootie means “A louse (Pediculus humanus)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cootie is cooties.
How many letters and syllables are in cootie?
| Letters | 6: C-O-O-T-I-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 97,057th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is cootie?
Cootie appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cootie?
- /ˈkuːti/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-cootie.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cootie
- cooties plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cootie mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CanadaUScolloquialdatedslangA louse (Pediculus humanus).
- 2
AustraliaCanadaUScolloquialAny 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.
- 3
rareA nest-building female American coot (counterpart to cooter).
- 4
rareslangA sideswiper, a type of telegraph key.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does cootie come from?
Probably from Malay kutu (“flea, louse”) (and/or Tagalog/Māori). First attested in English in 1917 as British army slang during World War I.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).