Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various small, six-legged larvae of mites of the family Trombiculidae that parasitize humans and other vertebrates. The chigger's bite produces a wheal that is usually accompanied by severe itching.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A perverted form of chigoe. Compare jigger.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a small tropical flea (Tunga penetrans, formerly Pulex penetrans); same as chigoe.
  • noun a larval mite of the family Trombiculidae that sucks the blood of vertebrates including human beings, causing intense irritation, and serving to transmit several infectious diseases.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A chigoe (Tunga penetrans), a kind of flea found in tropical climates.
  • noun A harvest mite, a very small, red mite endemic to the Midwestern and Southeastern US, the infestation of which causes intense itching.
  • noun : (slang, US) derogatory term for an East Asian person who behaves in ways similar to a stereotypical urban African American.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small tropical flea; the fertile female burrows under the skin of the host including humans
  • noun larval mite that sucks the blood of vertebrates including human beings causing intense irritation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of chigoe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From chigoe

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of chink and nigger

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