louse; lice
Refers to parasitic sucking lice (order Phthiraptera), especially those infesting humans and other mammals. Often used in compounds like アタマジラミ (head louse) or ケジラミ (pubic louse).
Lice were found in the child's hair.
Lice suck blood and cause itching.
exhaustive search; fine-tooth-comb search; scouring
human louse; body louse; head louse
bedbug
psyllid; jumping plant louse
whitefly
Usually written in katakana in biological and everyday contexts; usually written in kana.
Kanji form; rarely used in modern writing. The reading しし is obsolete.
Hiragana spelling, also common.
Variant kanji form; very rare.
The origin is uncertain. The word is native Japanese, and the kanji 虱 and 蝨 are Chinese characters adopted for their meaning.