nit

/nɪt/

/nɪt/

Other forms: nits

A nit is a louse egg. If your scalp is extra itchy, get someone (maybe even a "nitpicker" to check you for nits.

There's no getting around the fact that nits are pretty gross — they're basically baby lice. Nits can be tricky to spot on an infested person's scalp, because they're smaller than a grain of rice and a very pale color. Colloquially, to "nit pick" is to find and criticize someone's faults, no matter how tiny they might be. Another, less disgusting kind of nit is a scientific term for an amount of light emitted.

Definitions of nit

1. noun

   egg or young of an insect parasitic on mammals especially a sucking louse; often attached to a hair or item of clothing
   type of:

   egg

   animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum or embryo together with nutritive and protective envelopes; especially the thin-shelled reproductive body laid by e.g. female birds
2. noun

   a luminance unit equal to 1 candle per square meter measured perpendicular to the rays from the source
   type of:

   luminance unit

   a measure of luminance