chigoe
A small tropical flea, Tunga penetrans, whose females burrow under the skin of…A small tropical flea, Tunga penetrans, whose females burrow under the skin of animals, including humans, and lay their eggs, causing strong irritation and sores.
Meaning
1 sensesA small tropical flea, Tunga penetrans, whose females burrow under the skin of animals, including humans, and lay their eggs, causing strong irritation and sores.
small tropical flea; the fertile female burrows under the skin of the host including humans
Origin
Uncertain. Possibly from a Cariban language term such as Kari'na siko (“chigoe”) (early reUncertain. Possibly from a Cariban language term such as Kari'na siko (“chigoe”) (early recorded variant chico), from Proto-Cariban *tikô, or else a West African borrowing such as Wolof or Yoruba jiga (“insect”). The eighteenth century historian Charlevoix refers to them as chique in his 1730 history of Hispaniola.
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Forms
plural: chigoesSynonyms
9 synonyms- small tropical flea; the fertile female burrows under the skin of the host including humans:chiggerchigoe fleaTunga penetrans