What is the Hebrew name for the plague of lice?

The Hebrew name for the plague of lice is Kinim. It is the third of the Ten Plagues in the Book of Exodus, following blood in the Nile and the plague of frogs.

In Exodus, Aaron strikes the dust of the earth with his staff, and the dust becomes Kinim throughout Egypt. English translations vary, rendering the creatures as lice, gnats, or mosquitoes. That variation reflects uncertainty about the precise ancient creature named by the Hebrew term, but Kinim is the standard Hebrew name used in Jewish lists of the plagues.

The Egyptian magicians attempt to reproduce this plague but cannot. They tell Pharaoh that it is the “finger of God,” yet Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened. The plague is recited as part of the Passover Haggadah’s retelling of the Exodus.

The alternatives are names of other plagues: Choshech means darkness, Barad means hail, and Arov refers to the fourth plague, commonly translated as flies or wild animals. A separate tradition abbreviates the ten plagues into the mnemonic DeTZaKh, ADaSh, BeAChaV, but Kinim remains the third plague’s Hebrew designation.