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# nit

«nit» in Mova's school dictionary: **the egg or young of a head louse, a tiny insect that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a nit, nits)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A nit is the egg or young of a head louse, a tiny insect that lives in human hair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#m1)

2) (informal, UK, Australia, NZ) A nit or nitwit is a silly, foolish person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#m2)

3) To pick nits or nit-pick is to find small, unimportant faults. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

At school, nits spread between children's heads; letters go home saying "nits found in class". Parents comb with a nit comb. In playground talk "you nit!" is a mild, friendly insult. Phrases: nit comb, nit-picking, have nits.

### examples

- There are nits in our class, so check your hair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x1)
- Mum combed out my nits with a nit comb. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x2)
- Nits stick tightly to hairs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x3)
- Don't share hats, or you might spread nits. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x4)
- You nit! You've put your shoes on the wrong feet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x5)
- Stop nit-picking about my spelling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x6)
- Having nits does not mean your hair is dirty. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x7)
- The nurse checked 30 heads and found nits on 4. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/#x8)

### note

Countable: nits. "Nitwit" is a mild, jokey insult. Myth: nits are not caused by dirty hair, and lice do not jump or fly; they crawl. Trap: "nit" is not the same as "nut".

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «nit» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nit/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.