Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🦠 Imaginary germ 🪳 A body louse
cootie

cootie

1 9.0
An imaginary germ children use to tease others and avoid them
  • noun
  • /ˈkuːti/
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : cootie

Examples

  • The next one is miscellaneous, a candle, a bath, cootie, tulle, etc.

  • So Flora actually sent me a little package, just put the stuff in here and they sent me a little package of some cootie bits above the Flora.

  • I can't play with you because you have cooties!

  • She said I would catch her cooties if I got too close.

  • The kids teased each other about having cooties during recess.

Synonyms

cooties
vscootie
  • Baby Talk
1 8.8

Small imaginary germs children pretend are contagious

refers to a single imaginary germ or louse rather than the plural playful term

Idioms

to catch a cootie
  • Baby Talk
9.5

To pretend to get a small, not real illness from another person

Compounds

cootie joke
  • Baby Talk
9.0

A silly joke children use to say someone has pretend germs

Surface Forms

cootie singular
cooties plural

Etymology

Cootie is also a child's word for an imaginary germ or louse used to tease or avoid others. It began after soldiers used the Malay word kutu 'louse' in war and children turned it into a playground game, so cootie now means a make-believe bug you try not to touch.