lousy

English

Etymology

From louse +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aʊzi

Adjective

lousy (comparative lousier, superlative lousiest)

1. Remarkably bad; of poor quality, dirty, or underhanded; mean, contemptible.
   • No offense, but your cooking is lousy.
2. Infested with lice.
3. (colloquial) Filled or packed with something.
   • The place was lousy with students.
   • She's lousy with credit cards, goes shopping every day!

Usage notes

Prior to World War II, it was an offensive insult, implying filthiness. Now considered a mild or rather dated term.

Translations

remarkably bad; of poor quality, dirty, or underhanded

• Esperanto: aĉa (eo)
• French: pouilleux (fr)
• German: lausig (de)
• Italian: schifoso (it)
• Portuguese: péssimo (pt) m, horrível (pt)
• Russian: низкий (ru) (nizkij), подлый (ru) (podlyj), отвратительный (ru) (otvratitelʹnyj), мерзкий (ru) (merzkij), (colloquial) паршивый (ru) (paršivyj), (colloquial) фиговый (ru) (figovyj), (colloquial) отстойный (ru) (otstojnyj)

• Serbo-Croatian: ušljiv (sh) m
• Spanish: pésimo (es), malísimo (es), fatal (es)
• Swedish: värdelös (sv), urusel (sv), botten (sv)

Infested with lice

• Aromanian: piducljos (rup)
• French: pouilleux (fr)
• Friulian: pedoglôs
• German: verlaust (de)
• Hungarian: tetves (hu)
• Italian: pidocchioso (it)
• Latvian: utains (lv)
• Occitan: pesolhós (oc)
• Polish: zawszony (pl) m

• Portuguese: piolhoso (pt), piolhento (pt)
• Romanian: păduchios (ro)
• Russian: вшивый (ru) (všívyj) 
• Sardinian: peugosu (sc), piduciosu (sc)
• Serbo-Croatian: ušljiv (sh) m
• Spanish: piojoso (es)
• Swedish: nedlusad (sv), lusig (sv)
• Turkish: bitli (tr)

filled with

• Romanian: plin (ro) n
• Russian: богатый (ru) (bogatyj), полный (ru) (polnyj)

• Spanish: lleno de (es)
• Swedish: packad (sv), full (sv) (av/med)

Derived terms

• lousy evil

Related terms

• cootie, crab louse, crabs, louse, pubic louse