The story
From head + louse. Compare North Frisian hoodlüs (“headlouse”), Dutch hoofdluis (“headlouse”), Swedish huvudlus (“headlouse”), Icelandic höfuðlús (“headlouse”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
head louse
Today it means: A parasitic insect, Pediculus humanus capitis, which lives among the hairs on the head of a human and feeds on blood. Full definition →