bête rouge
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Trombidium_in_Washington%2C_D.C.jpg/220px-Trombidium_in_Washington%2C_D.C.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]From French bête rouge (literally “red beast”).
Noun
[edit]bête rouge (plural bêtes rouges)
- A mite of the genus Trombidium.
- 1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust:
- He had picked up bêtes rouges in the bush and they were crawling and burrowing under his skin.
- 1994, Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Minerva, published 1995, page 137:
- ‘The rashes on his legs and arms are bêtes rouges, and we can get rid of them with ammonia and zinc ointment.’
Further reading
[edit]Trombidium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia