lichen

English

Lichen growing on a rock (Rhizocarpon sp.)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin līchēn, from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn), from λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick”). Originally used of liverwort; the modern sense first recorded 1715.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lī'kən, IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.kən/
• enPR: lĭ'chən, (also, especially in the UK) (spelling pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtʃ.ən/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪkən, -ɪtʃən
• Homophones: liken, lycan

Noun

lichen (countable and uncountable, plural lichens or lichen)

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

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

   • 1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:

     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, chapter V, in Travels in Alaska:

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

3. (figurative) 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 […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, 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

• antilichen
• antler lichen (Evernia cladonia)
• ascolichen (Ascholichenes spp.)
• ball lichen (Sphaerophorus spp.)
• basidolichen (Basidolichenes spp.)
• beard lichen (Usnea barbata)
• blister lichen
• borderline lichen
• British soldiers lichen (Cladonia cristella)
• byssoid lichen
• cephalolichen
• chlorolichen
• cobblestone lichen (Acarospora spp.)
• comma lichen
• coral lichen (Sphaerophorus spp.)
• corticolous lichen
• cracked lichen (Acarospora spp.)
• crustose lichen
• crustose placodioid lichen
• cup lichen (Cladonia spp.)
• cyanolichen
• discolichen (Discolichenes spp.)
• dog lichen (Peltigera canina)
• dust lichen (Chrysothrix spp. or Lepraria spp.)
• earth lichen (esp., Baeomyces spp.)
• edible lichen
• endolithic lichen
• epiphyllous lichen
• equine tropical lichen
• filamentous lichen
• firedot lichen (Caloplaca spp.)
• foliose lichen
• fruticose lichen
• gelatinous lichen (Collemataceae spp.)
• globe lichen
• glyphis lichen (Glyphis spp.)
• gold lichen (Caloplaca spp.)
• goldspeck lichen (Candelariella spp.)
• horsehair lichen, horsetail lichen (Alectoria spp.)
• Iceland lichen (Cetraria islandica)
• jelly lichen (Collemataceae spp.)
• jewel lichen (Caloplaca spp.)
• leaf lichen
• lecanorine lichen
• leprose lichen
• letter lichen (Graphis spp.)
• lichenaceous
• lichenal
• lichenase
• lichened
• lichenic
• lichenicolous
• lichenification
• licheniform
• lichenify
• lichenin
• lichenisation
• lichenism
• lichenist
• lichenivorous
• lichenization
• lichenize
• lichenized
• lichenless
• lichenlike
• lichen moth (Licosiini spp.)
• lichenographer
• lichenographic
• lichenographical
• lichenographist
• lichenography
• lichenoid
• lichenologist
• lichenology
• lichenometry
• lichenose
• lichenous
• lichen planus
• lichen sclerosus
• lichen simplex chronicus
• lichen spinulosus
• licheny
• lung lichen (Sticta pulmonacea)
• macrolichen
• manna lichen (Lecanora spp., Gyrophora esculenta)
• map lichen (Rhizocarpon geographicum)
• needle lichen (Chaenotheca spp.)
• orange lichen (Caloplaca spp.)
• pin lichen
• placodioid lichen
• reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina)
• rim lichen (Lecanora, Squamarina spp.)
• saxicolous lichen
• script lichen (Graphis scripta)
• sea lichen (Parmotrema perlatum)
• snow lichen (Cetraria nivalis)
• socket lichen
• squamulose lichen
• stone lichen (Parmotrema perlatum)
• string-of-sausage lichen (Usnea articulata)
• stubble lichen (Calicium spp.)
• sunburst lichen (Xanthoria, Xanthoparmelia spp.)
• terricolous lichen
• thrush lichen (Peltigera apthosa)
• tropical lichen
• tube lichen (Hypogymnia spp.)
• vagrant lichen
• Wilson's lichen
• wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina)

Translations

symbiotic association of algae and fungi

• Albanian: liken (sq) m
• Arabic: أُشْنَة f (ʔušna), حَزَاز m (ḥazāz)
• Armenian: քարաքոս (hy) (kʻarakʻos)
• Azerbaijani: şibyə
• Basque: liken
• Belarusian: ліша́й m (lišáj), ліша́йнік m (lišájnik)
• Bengali: শৈবাল (bn) (śōibal)
• 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: orcelo m, orco m, calquizo m, ouricela f, escamenta f, lique (gl) m
• Georgian: ლიქენი (likeni)
• German: Flechte (de) f
• Greek: λειχήνα (el) f (leichína)

  Ancient Greek: λειχήν m (leikhḗn)

• Hebrew: חֲזָזִית (he) f (khazazít)
• Hindi: लाइकेन (lāiken), शैवाक m (śaivāk), शैक m (śaik), काई (hi) f (kāī)
• Hungarian: zuzmó (hu)
• Icelandic: flétta (is) f, skóf f
• Ingrian: kangassammal, kantosammal
• 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) (eŋilcek)
• Lao: ຜາກ (phāk)
• Latin: līchēn m
• Latvian: ķērpis m
• Lithuanian: kerpės m
• Macedonian: лишај m (lišaj)
• Malay: kulampair, liken
• Māori: pukoko, hawa, mūna, angiangi
• Marathi: दगडफूल (dagaḍphūl), धोंडफूल (dhoṇḍphūl), फत्तरफूल (phattarphūl), गिरीपुष्पक (girīpuṣpak), शैलज (śailaj)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хаг өвс (xag övs)

  Mongolian script: ᠬᠠᠭ
  ᠡᠪᠡᠰᠦ (qaɣ ebesü)

• Navajo: dláád
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lav (no) m or n

  Nynorsk: lav n

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

  Cyrillic: ли̏ша̄ј m

  Latin: lȉšāj (sh) m

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

  Upper Sorbian: 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)

  Ottoman Turkish: مانطار (mantar), طاش مانطاری (taş mantarı)

• Ukrainian: лиша́йник m (lyšájnyk)
• Urdu: اشنہ (ušna)
• Uyghur: مۇخ (mux)
• Uzbek: lishaynik (uz)
• Vietnamese: địa y (vi)
• Welsh: cen m

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

Verb

lichen (third-person singular simple present lichens, present participle lichening, simple past and past participle lichened)

1. (transitive) To cover with lichen.
   • 1903, J. Gordon Mowat, John Alexander Cooper, Newton MacTavish, The Canadian Magazine, volume 21, page 37:

     […] making the rocks assume the mould of age and lichening the trees with damp beauty.

See also

• algae
• fungus
• Iceland moss
• moss
• reindeer moss

Further reading

• lichen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “lichen”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.kɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

lichen m (plural lichens)

1. lichen

Derived terms

• lichen plan
• lichénique

Further reading

• “lichen”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• chelin

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.kʰeːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.ken]

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).

	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
• Irish: léicean
• Italian: lichene
• Portuguese: líquen
• Romanian: lichen
• 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)

Luxembourgish

Verb

lichen (third-person singular present licht, past participle gelicht, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (transitive, slang) to kick out, to throw out, to sack

Synonyms

• erausgeheien
• lanteren
• schassen

1. (transitive) to lift (a little)
2. (reflexive, slang) to get up, to leave (as a guest), to get to one's feet
3. (reflexive) to lift (fog, mist)

Synonyms

• sech hiewen

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French lichen.

Noun

lichen m (plural licheni)

1. lichen

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lichen	lichenul	licheni	lichenii
genitive-dative	lichen	lichenului	licheni	lichenilor
vocative	lichenule		lichenilor