chitin

See also: Chitin

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French chitine, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin chitōn (“mollusk”). See also chiton.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kīʹtĭn, IPA^(key): /ˈkaɪtɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪtɪn

Noun

chitin (countable and uncountable, plural chitins)

1. (biochemistry) A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
   • 1880, Arthur Gamgee, A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body, Macmillan, p. 299

     Chitin usually occurs throughout Invertebrates in the form of an investment to the outermost cellular layer or ectoderm.

   • 2004, New Scientist, 11 Sep 2004, p.19

     The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton.

Derived terms

• chitinaceous
• chitinase
• chitinization
• chitinlike
• chitinoid
• chitinolysis
• chitinous
• lipochitin
• polychitin

 

Translations

polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in arthropod and fungi

• Bulgarian: хитин m (hitin)
• Catalan: quitina f
• Czech: chitin (cs) m
• Esperanto: kitino
• Finnish: kitiini (fi)
• French: chitine (fr) f
• German: Chitin (de)
• Hindi: कठिनि (kaṭhini)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: chitina (it) f
• Occitan: quitina f
• Portuguese: quitina f
• Russian: хити́н (ru) m (xitín)
• Serbo-Croatian: hitin (sh) m
• Spanish: quitina f
• Thai: ไคทิน, ไคติน

References

• “chitin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “chitin”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• itchin'