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.kn̩/
• (also, especially in the UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtʃ.n̩/

• 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 fungi and algae; often found as white or yellow patches on old walls, etc.
   • 1894, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Lukannon

     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.
   • 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 15

     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.

Synonyms

• (something which spreads): cancer

Hyponyms

• (symbiotic organism): macrolichen, microlichen

Derived terms

• antler lichen (Evernia cladonia)
• 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
• 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
• 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 fungi and algae

• Arabic: الأشنات‎ m
• Armenian: քարաքոս (hy) (kʿarakʿos)
• Basque: liken
• Belarusian: ліша́й m (lišáj), ліша́йнік m (lišájnik)
• Bulgarian: ли́шей m (líšej)
• Catalan: liquen 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)
• Hebrew: חזזית‎ (he) f (khazazít)
• Hungarian: zuzmó (hu)
• Icelandic: flétta (is) f
• Irish: léicean m
• Italian: lichene (it) m
• Japanese: 地衣類 (ja) (ちいるい, chiirui)
• Korean: 지의류 (ko) (jiuiryu)

• Latin: līchēn m
• Macedonian: ли́шај m (líšaj)
• Malay: kulampair
• Maori: pukoko
• Marathi: दगडफूल (dagaḍphūl), धोंडफूल (dhoṇḍphūl), फत्तरफूल (phattarphūl), गिरीपुष्पक (girīpuṣpak), शैलज (śailaj)
• Navajo: dláád
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lav (no) m or n

  Nynorsk: lav n

• 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)
• Spanish: liquen (es) m
• Swedish: lav (sv) c
• Tagalog: ligbus
• Turkish: liken (tr)
• Ukrainian: лиша́йник m (lyšájnyk)
• Upper Sorbian: lišawa
• Vietnamese: địa y
• 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

• lichénique

Further reading

• “lichen” in le 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/

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, Greek type. Case Singular Plural Nominative līchēn līchēnes Genitive līchēnos līchēnum Dative līchēnī līchēnibus Accusative līchēna līchēnas Ablative līchēne līchēnibus Vocative līchēn līchēnes

Third declension. Case Singular Plural Nominative līchēn līchēnēs Genitive līchēnis līchēnum Dative līchēnī līchēnibus Accusative līchēnem līchēnēs Ablative līchēne līchēnibus Vocative līchēn 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)