Plural of chinch or chinche, insects that feed on plant sap, particularly destructive to grains and grasses.
From Spanish 'chinche' and ultimately from a Mesoamerican language. The word entered English through Spanish colonial contact and horticultural terminology.
Chinch bugs are tiny but devastating—a single colony can destroy an entire cornfield in weeks by sucking the life from plant stems! Farmers have battled these insects for centuries, and they're still one of agriculture's biggest problems in North America.
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