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.

Nearby words

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for chigoe

In hot countries the chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans) is a serious and troublesome pest, particularly to bare-footed people.
The Flea|Harold Russell
"Chiggerfoot" takes its name from the chigoe, chigger, or jigger, the minute flea which burrows into the foot.
Jamaican Song and Story|Walter Jekyll
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

Probably the common flea and the chigoe would form distinct genera.
An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. IV (of 4)|William Kirby

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

Medicine definitions for chigoe

chigoe

[chĭg′ō]

n.

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