Meaning: louse

Illustrative Context

I picked a louse out of his hair.

Target Sense

• The most generic term for a louse as a parasitic insect, in the prototypical sense of one that lives in the hair on a human’s head.
• The lexeme entered should be the default term to refer to a single full grown louse, as one could individually pick off the head, as in the illustrative context.
• The lexeme entered will thus normally be a count noun in the singular. Only if the clear default term in a language is non-count, and referring to a single louse would require additional singulative morphology, should this non-count form be entered, as the most basic in that language.
• Avoid narrower terms specific to particular types, forms or stages of the life cycle of lice, such as the eggs, e.g. English nits.
• The most basic, generic term in many languages (like English louse) may not distinguish head lice and body lice, and may be applicable to both. This is not in itself a concern, provided that the lexeme entered is the default word for the target sense here, i.e. head lice. Avoid any different, narrower terms specific to body lice and which are not the default word applied to head lice. Indeed, also avoid narrower terms specific to head lice, where a more basic term exists that naturally covers both.
• In some languages, as generally with English louse, the same generic term is also applicable to lice that live in the fur, hair or skin of animals. Avoid terms specific to analogous species on animals, however, and which are not the default word for lice in the hair on a human’s head.
• Follow common usage and basic vocabulary. Strict technical and biological classification criteria are not necessarily relevant — on this, see also the definitions for the separate IE-CoR meanings horn, wing, snake and ant.
• Target the default register lexeme. Avoid technical and biological terms, colloquial terms, and so on.
• The target sense is the literal one of the small insect. Do not enter additional, different lexemes in any figurative extension of the English lexeme louse, in the sense of something else unpleasant or parasitic.