lichen

English

Lichen growing on a rock.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin līchēn (“ringworm”), from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).

Pronunciation

• enPR: lī'kən, IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.kən/
• (also, especially in the UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪ.tʃən/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪkən, -ɪtʃən
• Homophone: liken

Noun

lichen (countable and uncountable, plural lichens or lichen)

1. Any of many symbiotic organisms, being associations of algae and fungi, often found as white or yellow patches on old walls, etc.
   • 1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Lukannon”, in The Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, OCLC 752934375, page 122:

     The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall, / The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!

   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, ch XI

     It was the same rich green that one sees on forest moss or on the lichen in caves: plants which like these grow in a perpetual twilight.

   • 1915, John Muir, Travels in Alaska, ch V

     The nibble marks of the stone adze were still visible, though crusted over with scale lichens in most places.

2. (figuratively) Something which gradually spreads across something else, causing damage.

   Synonym: cancer

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Shadows on the Sage-slope”, in Riders of the Purple Sage: A Novel, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 6868219, page 202:

     Meanwhile, abiding a day of judgment, she fought ceaselessly to deny the bitter drops in her cup, to tear back the slow, the intangibly slow growth of a hot, corrosive lichen eating into her heart.

Hyponyms

• (symbiotic organism): macrolichen, microlichen

Derived terms

• antler lichen (Evernia cladonia)
• ascolichen
• ball lichen (Sphaerophorus)
• beard lichen (Usnea barbata)
• British soldiers lichen (Cladonia cristella)
• byssoid lichen
• cobblestone lichen (Acarospora)
• coral lichen (Sphaerophorus)
• corticolous lichen
• cracked lichen (Acarospora)
• crustose lichen
• crustose placodioid lichen
• cup lichen (Cladonia spp.)
• cyanolichen
• dog lichen (Peltigera canina)
• earth lichen (esp., Baeomyces)
• edible lichen
• endolithic lichen
• epiphyllous lichen
• equine tropical lichen
• filamentous lichen
• firedot lichen (Caloplaca)
• foliose lichen
• fruticose lichen
• gelatinous lichen (Collemataceae)
• globe lichen
• glyphis lichen (Glyphis spp.)
• gold lichen (Caloplaca)
• horsehair lichen (Alectoria)
• horsetail lichen (Alectoria)
• Iceland lichen (Cetraria islandica)
• jelly lichen
• jewel lichen (Caloplaca)
• leaf lichen
• lecanorine lichen
• leprose lichen
• letter lichen (Graphis)
• lichenaceous
• lichenal
• lichened
• lichenic
• lichenicolous
• licheniform
• lichenin
• lichenism
• lichenist
• lichenivorous
• lichenization
• lichenize
• lichenographer
• lichenographic
• lichenographical
• lichenographist
• lichenography
• lichenoid
• lichenologist
• lichenology
• lichenometry
• lichenose
• lichenous
• lichen planus
• licheny
• lung lichen (Sticta pulmonacea)
• macrolichen
• manna lichen (Lecanora spp., Gyrophora esculenta)
• map lichen (Rhizocarpon geographicum)
• orange lichen (Caloplaca)
• reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina)
• rim lichen (Lecanora, Squamarina)
• saxicolous lichen
• script lichen (Graphis scripta)
• snow lichen (Cetraria nivalis)
• squamulose lichen
• stone lichen
• sunburst lichen (Xanthoria, Xanthoparmelia)
• terricolous lichen
• thrush lichen (Peltigera apthosa)
• tropical lichen
• vagrant lichen
• Wilson's lichen

 

Translations

symbiotic association of algae and fungi

• Albanian: liken (sq) m
• Arabic: أُشْنَة‎ f (ʾušna), حَزَاز‎ m (ḥazāz)
• Armenian: քարաքոս (hy) (kʿarakʿos)
• Azerbaijani: şibyə
• Basque: liken
• Belarusian: ліша́й m (lišáj), ліша́йнік m (lišájnik)
• Bengali: শৈবাল (śoibal)
• Bulgarian: ли́шей m (líšej)
• Burmese: လေသိုက် (my) (lesuik)
• Catalan: liquen (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地衣 (zh) (dìyī)

• Czech: lišejník (cs) m
• Danish: lav (da) n
• Dutch: korstmos (nl) n
• Esperanto: likeno
• Estonian: samblik
• Faroese: skón f
• Finnish: jäkälä (fi)
• French: lichen (fr) m
• Friulian: lichil
• Galician: lique m
• Georgian: ლიქენი (likeni)
• German: Flechte (de) f
• Greek: λειχήνα (el) f (leichína)

  Ancient: λειχήν m (leikhḗn)

• Hebrew: חֲזָזִית‎ (he) f (khazazít)
• Hindi: लाइकेन (lāiken), शैवाल (hi) m (śaivāl), काई (hi) f (kāī), शैक m (śaik)
• Hungarian: zuzmó (hu)
• Icelandic: flétta (is) f, skóf f
• Irish: léicean m
• Italian: lichene (it) m
• Japanese: 地衣類 (ja) (ちいるい, chiirui)
• Kazakh: қына (qına)
• Khmer: កវកាប្យ (kaʼvĕəʼkaap)
• Korean: 지의류 (ko) (jiuiryu)
• Kyrgyz: эңилчек (ky) (eñilçek)
• Lao: ຜາກ (phāk)
• Latin: līchēn m
• Latvian: ķērpis m

• Lithuanian: kerpės m
• Macedonian: лишај m (lišaj)
• Malay: kulampair, liken
• Maori: pukoko
• Marathi: दगडफूल (dagaḍphūl), धोंडफूल (dhoṇḍphūl), फत्तरफूल (phattarphūl), गिरीपुष्पक (girīpuṣpak), शैलज (śailaj)
• Mongolian: хаг өвс (khag övs)
• Navajo: dláád
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lav (no) m or n

  Nynorsk: lav n

• Old English: ragu f
• Persian: گلسنگ‎ (fa) (golsang)
• Polish: porost (pl), liszaj m
• Portuguese: líquen (pt) m
• Romanian: lichen (ro) m
• Russian: лиша́йник (ru) m (lišájnik), лиша́й (ru) m (lišáj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ли̏ша̄ј m

  Roman: lȉšāj (sh) m

• Shor: сырынма
• Slovak: lišajník (sk) m
• Slovene: lišaj (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Upper: lišawa

• Spanish: liquen (es) m
• Swedish: lav (sv) c
• Tagalog: ligbus
• Tajik: гулсанг (gulsang)
• Tatar: лишайник (lişaynik)
• Thai: ตะไคร่ (th) (dtà-krâi), ตะไคร่น้ำ (th) (dtà-krâi-náam), หญ้าม็อส
• Turkish: liken (tr)
• Ukrainian: лиша́йник m (lyšájnyk)
• Urdu: اشنہ‎ (ušna)
• Uyghur: مۇخ‎ (mux)
• Uzbek: lishaynik (uz)
• Vietnamese: địa y (vi)
• Welsh: cen m
• Westrobothnian: læv n, lɑva m

something which spreads across something else, causing damage — see cancer

See also

• lichen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• algae
• fungus
• Iceland moss
• moss
• reindeer moss

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lichen, from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.kɛn/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lichen m (plural lichens)

1. lichen

Derived terms

• lichen plan
• lichénique

Further reading

• “lichen” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• chelin

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Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.kʰeːn/, [ˈliːkʰeːn]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ken/, [ˈliːkɛn]

Noun

līchēn m (genitive līchēnos or līchēnis); third declension

1. (literally) a cryptogamic species of vegetation growing on trees, lichen
2. (transferred sense, medicine) an eruption on the skin of men and beasts, a tetter, ringworm
   1. (and especially) a callous excrescence upon the leg of a horse, used as a medicine

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	līchēn	līchēnes līchēnēs
Genitive	līchēnos līchēnis	līchēnum
Dative	līchēnī	līchēnibus
Accusative	līchēna līchēnem	līchēnas līchēnēs
Ablative	līchēne	līchēnibus
Vocative	līchēn	līchēnes līchēnēs

Derived terms

• līchēnifōrmis

Related terms

• līchēna
• līchēnicos

Descendants

• English: lichen
• French: lichen
• Galician: lique
• Portuguese: líquen
• Spanish: liquen

References

• līchēn in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• līchēn in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 909/3
• “līchēn” on page 1,029/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

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Romanian

Etymology

From French lichen

Noun

lichen m (plural licheni)

1. lichen

Declension

Declension of lichen

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) lichen	lichenul	(niște) licheni	lichenii
genitive/dative	(unui) lichen	lichenului	(unor) licheni	lichenilor
vocative	lichenule		lichenilor