chigoe
[chig-oh]
- 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.
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Origin of chigoe
Borrowed into English from Carib around 1685–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for chigoe
Historical Examples
Occasionally a gorilla or a chimpanzee may get a chigoe in its toe.
The FleaHarold 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 InsectsAlpheus Spring Packard
The chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans) is a native originally of South America.
The FleaHarold 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 FleaHarold Russell
chigoe
- 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)
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Word Origin
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
(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
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.