lichen
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Latin līchēn (“ringworm”), from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).
Pronunciation[edit]
- enPR: lī'kən, IPA(key): /ˈlaɪ.kn̩/[1][2][3]
- (UK, chiefly) IPA(key): /ˈlɪtʃ.n̩/[1][2][3]
-
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪkən, -ɪtʃən
- Homophone: liken
Noun[edit]
lichen (countable and uncountable, plural lichens or lichen)
- 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!
- The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall–
- 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.
- 1894 — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Lukannon
- (figuratively) Something which 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.
- 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 15
Synonyms[edit]
- (something which spreads): cancer
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from lichen
Translations[edit]
symbiotic association of fungi and algae
|
|
something which spreads across something else, causing damage — see cancer
See also[edit]
lichen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia- algae
- fungus
- Iceland moss
- moss
- reindeer moss
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “lichen” in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “lichen” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “lichen” (US) / “lichen” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Latin lichen, from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
lichen m (plural lichens)
Derived terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “lichen” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn)
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
līchēn m (genitive līchēnos or līchēnis); third declension
- (literally) a cryptogamic species of vegetation growing on trees, lichen
- (transferred sense, medicine) an eruption on the skin of men and beasts, a tetter, ringworm
- (and especially) a callous excrescence upon the leg of a horse, used as a medicine
Declension[edit]
Third declension, Greek type.
|
Third declension.
|
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- līchēn in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “līchēn” on page 909/3 of Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
- “līchēn” on page 1,029/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Lichens
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Ancient Greek
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Lichens
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin masculine nouns
- Latin third declension nouns
- Latin masculine nouns in the third declension
- Latin terms with transferred senses
- la:Medicine
