Standard Lemma guide

woodlouse

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈwʊdˌlaʊs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of the terrestrial isopod crustaceans of the suborder Oniscidea, which have a rigid, segmented exoskeleton, often being capable of rolling into a ball, and feed only on dead plant matter, usually living in damp, dark places, such as under stones or bark.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of various small terrestrial isopods having a flat elliptical segmented body; found in damp habitats

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: slater

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: isopod

Narrower terms: pill bug, sow bug

History

Etymology

From wood + louse.

Across languages

Translations

123 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قَمْل الخَشَب (qaml al-ḵašab) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Armenian: նեպուկ (nepuk) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Asturian: gocha — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Azerbaijani: məryəmqurdu — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Bashkir: ҡырғаяҡ (qırğayaq) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Basque: kukurutx — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Belarusian: макры́ца (makrýca) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Breton: laou-dar — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Bulgarian: мокри́ца (mokríca) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Burmese: ပိုးလုံးကောင် (pui:lum:kaung) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Catalan: porquet de Sant Antoni — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chinese Cantonese: 木蝨 /木虱 (muk6 sat1) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 木蝨 /木虱 (mùshī) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 潮蟲 /潮虫 (cháochóng) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 土鱉蟲 /土鳖虫 (tǔbiēchóng) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 藥丸蟲 /药丸虫 — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chuvash: кӑпшанкӑ (kăpšank̬ă) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chuvash: тӗклӗ таракан (tĕklĕ t̬arak̬an) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chuvash: ҫӗрхут (śĕrh̬ut) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Chuvash: кӑркаяк (kărk̬ajak) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Cornish: gwragh oles — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Czech: svinka — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Czech: autobus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Danish: bænkebider — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Dutch: pissebed — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Dutch: keldermot — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Dutch: varkensbeest — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Esperanto: onisko — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Estonian: kakand — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Faroese: grátt undir steini — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Finnish: siira — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Finnish: saunamaija — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • French: cloporte — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • French: cochon de saint Antoine — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • West-Frisian: krobbe — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • West-Frisian: stienkrobbe — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Galician: porquiño de santo Antón — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • German: Kellerassel — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • German: Assel — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • German: Landassel — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Greek: ονίσκος (onískos) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Greek: καβρομαμούνα (kavromamoúna) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Ancient Greek: κουβαρίς (koubarís) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Ancient Greek: ὀνίσκος (onískos) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Hindi: दीमक (dīmak) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Hindi: काष्ठ यूका (kāṣṭh yūkā) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Hungarian: gömbászka — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Hungarian: pinceászka — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Hungarian: érdes pinceászka — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Icelandic: grápadda — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Icelandic: grálodda — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Ido: aselo — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Indonesian: kutu kayu — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Irish: cláirseach — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Irish: míol críon — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Italian: onisco — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Italian: armadillo volgare — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Italian: porcellino di terra — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Japanese: 草鞋虫 (warajimushi) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Japanese: 団子虫 (dangomushi) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Kazakh: есекқұрт (esekqūrt) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Khmer: ខ្មូតដី (kmoot dəy) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Korean: 쥐며느리 (jwimyeoneuri) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Central Kurdish: خِلێرە (xilêre) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Kyrgyz: нымсакчы (nımsakcı) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Latin: oniscus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Latin: tylos — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Lithuanian: vėdarėlis — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Māori: pāpapa — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Navajo: wónitłʼizí — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norman: trie d'bouais — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian: skrukketroll — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian: kaffebiller — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian: munkelus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian: tussalus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: skrukketroll — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kaffebiller — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: munkelus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tusselus — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Persian: خر خاکی (xar-xâki) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Polish: stonoga — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: bicho-de-conta — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: tatuzinho-de-jardim — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: tatu-de-jardim — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: tatu — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: tatuzinho — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Portuguese: porca-sara — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Russian: мокри́ца (mokríca) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scots: slater — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: corra-chòsag — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-chòsag (Uist) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-Eòsag — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-chòsach — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-cheòsach — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: còsag — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: sglèatag — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: reudan — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Scottish Gaelic: mial-choille — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Serbo-Croatian: мокрица — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Serbo-Croatian: mokrica — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Slovak: svinka — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Slovene: lesna uš — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Slovene: krovec — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: cochinilla de humedad — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: chanchito de tierra — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: bicho bolita — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: bicho de bola — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: marranito — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: bichobolita — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: porqueta — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Spanish: chanchito — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Swedish: gråsugga — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Telugu: నామవాచకం (nāmavācakaṁ) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Turkish: tespih böceği — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Ottoman Turkish: تسبیح بوجكی (tesbih böceği) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Turkmen: eşekýassyk — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Ukrainian: мокри́ця (mokrýcja) — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Uzbek: eshakqurt — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Vietnamese: bọ đất — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Vietnamese: mọt ẩm — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Welsh: mochyn coed — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Welsh: gwrach y lludw — any species of suborder Oniscidea
  • Welsh: pryf lludw — any species of suborder Oniscidea