lousy

English

Etymology

From Middle English lousy, lowsy, lousi, equivalent to louse +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laʊ.zi/
• Rhymes: -aʊzi

Adjective

lousy (comparative lousier, superlative lousiest)

1. Remarkably bad; of poor quality.

   No offense, but his cooking is lousy.

   Synonym: miserable

2. Dirty or untidy.

   I cleaned the lousy garage.

3. Underhanded; mean; contemptible.

   I've had enough of lousy backstabbing at this place.

4. Infested with lice.
5. (colloquial, usually with with) Filled or packed (with something, usually bad).

   The place was lousy with students.

   • 2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 6:

     [I talked to] Annabeth about the Greek gods who hung out in New York and made her life difficult. Apparently North America was lousy with ancient gods. We had a full-blown infestation.

   Synonyms: inundated, jam-packed, teeming

Usage notes

• Considered an offensive insult prior to World War II, implying filthiness. Now considered a mild or rather dated term.

Derived terms

• lousy evil

Related terms

• cootie, crab louse, crabs, louse, pubic louse
• licey (“infested with lice”)

Translations

remarkably bad; of poor quality, dirty, or underhanded

• Bulgarian: противен (bg) (protiven)
• Catalan: pèssim (ca), horrible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蹩脚 (zh) (biéjiǎo)

• Esperanto: aĉa (eo)
• Estonian: närune, alatu
• Finnish: surkea (fi)
• French: pouilleux (fr), minable (fr), pourri (fr), à chier (fr), de merde (fr)
• German: lausig (de)
• Hebrew: עלוב‎ (he) ('alúv)
• Italian: schifoso (it)

• Ngazidja Comorian: -a uvunɗo
• Plautdietsch: velust
• Portuguese: péssimo (pt) m, horrível (pt)
• Russian: ни́зкий (ru) (nízkij), подлый (ru) (podlyj), отврати́тельный (ru) (otvratítelʹnyj), ме́рзкий (ru) (mérzkij), (colloquial) парши́вый (ru) (paršívyj), (colloquial) фиговый (ru) (figovyj), (colloquial) отстойный (ru) (otstojnyj), скверный (ru) (skvernyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ušljiv (sh) m
• Spanish: pésimo (es) m, penoso (es) m, lamentable (es), malísimo (es) m, fatal (es)
• Swedish: värdelös (sv), urusel (sv), botten (sv)

Infested with lice

• Aromanian: piducljos
• Bulgarian: въшлясал (vǎšljasal)
• Catalan: pollós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zavšivený (cs)
• French: pouilleux (fr)
• Friulian: pedoglôs
• German: verlaust (de)
• Hungarian: tetves (hu)
• Italian: pidocchioso (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

• Latvian: utains
• Occitan: pesolhós (oc)
• Plautdietsch: lusich
• Polish: zawszony m
• Portuguese: piolhoso (pt), piolhento (pt)
• Romanian: păduchios (ro)
• Russian: вши́вый (ru) (všívyj)
• Sardinian: peugosu, piduciosu
• Serbo-Croatian: ušljiv (sh) m
• Spanish: piojoso (es) m
• Swedish: nedlusad (sv), lusig
• Turkish: bitli (tr)
• Welsh: lleuog

filled with

• French: bourré (fr)
• Romanian: plin (ro) n
• Russian: бога́тый (ru) (bogátyj), по́лный (ru) (pólnyj)

• Spanish: plagado (es) m, infestado (es) m
• Swedish: packad (sv), full av, full med