Definition of "chigoe" [chig•oe]

• A small tropical flea (Tunga penetrans), the fertilized female of which burrows under the skin of animals and humans, causing intense irritation and sores that may become severely infected. Also called chigger, jigger2, sand flea. (noun)
• See chigger. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The floor was planked, not, as I found, from any regard for the comfort of the slaves, but because a small insect, a species of chigoe, which is in the soil, might get into the flesh of the poor creatures, and produce a disease which might ultimately kill them."
• "It is like the red "chigoe" which inserts his tiny head in the flesh and burrows until he causes a throbbing fester."
• "The chigoe fleas burrowed holes in his feet, which festered and made him limp."