12

Is there a word or term for the state of a human or animal infested with ticks?

Mainly just curious.

Examples:

He's suffering from ______.

Don't get near him: he has _____.

|improve this question

closed as off-topic by JJJ, JonMark Perry, jimm101, John Lawler, J. Taylor Aug 9 '18 at 11:58

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:

If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

  • 1
    Since the answer you said "is exactly what [you] were looking for" does not answer the original question at all, I took the liberty of rephrasing it to fit lbf's answer. If you really did mean something else and wanted a word for the person instead of the condition, feel free to rephrase and explain. – lly Aug 6 '18 at 5:09
  • 2
    Schrodinger's Ticked: You're both Ticked on AND Ticked off. – aslum Aug 6 '18 at 12:46
  • 2
    If I were looking to be somewhat humorous and non-technical, I'd personally say lousy with ticks just because I like using the more literal meaning of lousy. – stevesliva Aug 6 '18 at 17:10
  • /me expects the etymology of "ticked" to appear here. – Joshua Aug 6 '18 at 20:53
  • See also nhs.uk/conditions/scabies – StuperUser Aug 7 '18 at 15:39
22

Ectoparasitism TFD is the medical term:

the state in which the ectoparasite [ticks, lice] are living on the surface of the host's body.

He went to the doctor with ticks, and was diagnosed with ectoparasitosis.

|improve this answer
34

I don't think there is a word that refers to possessing ticks as a condition, but you could use "tick-ridden" or "tick-infested" as an adjective:

The dog is tick-ridden.

|improve this answer
  • +1 We may need noun forms tick-infestation / tick-riddenness (?) rather. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick_infestation – Kris Aug 6 '18 at 6:19
  • 1
    It looks like the question's been edited since you answered; you may need to edit to fit the new example sentences in the question. (But usually you'd just say "he/it has ticks".) – V2Blast Aug 6 '18 at 8:19
8

For the second sentence example you can simply use "ticks" - "don't go near him he has ticks", just as you would with lice or fleas.

If sticking to a single word is not essential you might want to be more specific and say "an infestation of ticks" - to make it clear that the subject has a large number of the parasites, not just one or two.

"an infestation of ticks" could also work in the first sentence example. "He's suffering from an infestation of ticks"

|improve this answer
  • "He's suffering from ticks" works fine also. – Timbo Aug 6 '18 at 23:10
  • @Timbo I'm not so sure , that sounds slightly wrong to me, I've never heard it used like that (though on googling it I can see quite a few examples of that phrase, which do sound fine, so maybe you are right) – Ben Aug 6 '18 at 23:18
  • I wouldn't choose that construction (I'd pick the more informal "Watch out! He's got ticks!") but I would understand it if I heard it. – Timbo Aug 7 '18 at 0:19
  • Ironically, you can't use the proper term for an infestation of lice as "lousy" is now used only in the figurative sense (as far as I'm aware). – Hugh Meyers Aug 7 '18 at 12:42
0

Merriam-Webster:

ticky -er/-est

: affected or infested with or full of ticks

|improve this answer
-3

If you are looking for an informal way of saying it, you pretty much have the most natural way already:

"he is tick-infested" or "he is infested with ticks".

Saying "He has ..." is asking for a formal medical condition, like diabetes. The most informal of this would be

"He has a problem with ticks" or "He has a lot of ticks".

|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.