chigoe

[chig-oh]

noun

a flea, Tunga penetrans, of tropical America and Africa, the impregnated female of which embeds itself in the skin, especially of the feet, of humans and animals and becomes greatly distended with eggs.

Origin of chigoe

Borrowed into English from Carib around 1685–95

Also called chigoe flea, chigger, jigger, sand flea.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chigoe

Historical Examples of chigoe

Occasionally a gorilla or a chimpanzee may get a chigoe in its toe.
The Flea
Harold Russell
The Chigoe lays about sixty eggs, depositing them in a sort of sac on each side of the external opening of the oviduct.
Our Common Insects
Alpheus Spring Packard
The chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans) is a native originally of South America.
The Flea
Harold Russell
It is like the red "chigoe" which inserts his tiny head in the flesh and burrows until he causes a throbbing fester.
The Secret of a Happy Home (1896)
Marion Harland
In hot countries the chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans) is a serious and troublesome pest, particularly to bare-footed people.
The Flea
Harold Russell

British Dictionary definitions for chigoe

chigoe

noun

Also called: chigger, jigger, sand flea a tropical flea, Tunga penetrans, the female of which lives on or burrows into the skin of its host, which includes man
another name for chigger (def. 1)

Word Origin for chigoe

C17: from Carib chigo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

chigoe in Medicine

chigoe

[chĭg′ō]

A small tropical flea (Tunga penetrans) the fertilized female of which burrows under the skin, frequently under the toenails, causing intense irritation and sores that may become severely infected.jigger sand flea