flea

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Other forms: fleas

A flea is a tiny biting insect that's especially common on dogs. If you find one flea in your dog's fur, there may be hundreds more hiding in there.

Fleas live by sucking blood from a host — they're parasites. You can just barely see a flea with the naked eye, and when you do spot one it may be hopping, since they're known to jump, sometimes from one animal to another. Flea bites are itchy, and fleas can be tricky to get rid of once they've laid eggs on your dog (or in your bed). Some experts think the word's root s the Old English fleon, "to flee."

Definitions of flea

1. noun

   any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap
   types:

   Pulex irritans

   the most common flea attacking humans

   Ctenocephalides canis, dog flea

   flea that attacks dogs and cats

   Ctenocephalides felis, cat flea

   flea that breeds chiefly on cats and dogs and rats

   Tunga penetrans, chigger, chigoe, chigoe flea

   small tropical flea; the fertile female burrows under the skin of the host including humans

   Echidnophaga gallinacea, sticktight, sticktight flea

   parasitic on especially the heads of chickens

   type of:

   ectoparasite, ectozoan, ectozoon, epizoan, epizoon

   any external parasitic organism (as fleas)

   insect

   a small creature with six legs, three body fragments, two antennae, and usually wings belonging in the Arthropoda phylum