chigger; harvest mite
Refers to mites of the family Trombiculidae, especially the larval stage that bites humans and animals. Often associated with tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus).
If you are bitten by a chigger, you may get scrub typhus.
When you go into the fields and mountains, be careful of chiggers.
Katakana spelling is common in biological contexts and everyday use.
Kanji spelling is rare; the word is usually written in kana.
The word is of native Japanese origin. The kanji 恙 (tsutsuga) means 'illness' or 'disaster', and 虫 (mushi) means 'insect' or 'bug', reflecting the mite's association with disease.