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/[1][2][3]
- (also, especially in the UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɪ.tʃən/[1][2][3]
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪkən, -ɪtʃən
- Homophones: liken, lycan
Noun
lichen (countable and uncountable, plural lichens or lichen)
- 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 752934375, page 122:
- The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall, / The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!
- 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, OCLC 4701980:
- 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.
-
- (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 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
- antilichen
- antler lichen (Evernia cladonia)
- ascolichen (Ascolichenes)
- ball lichen (Sphaerophorus)
- basidolichen (Basidolichenes)
- beard lichen (Usnea barbata)
- British soldiers lichen (Cladonia cristella)
- byssoid lichen
- cephalolichen
- chlorolichen
- cobblestone lichen (Acarospora)
- coral lichen (Sphaerophorus)
- corticolous lichen
- cracked lichen (Acarospora)
- crustose lichen
- crustose placodioid lichen
- cup lichen (Cladonia spp.)
- cyanolichen
- discolichen (Discolichenes)
- dog lichen (Peltigera canina)
- dust lichen (Chrysothrix or Lepraria spp.)
- 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, 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
- lichen sclerosus
- 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
|
something which spreads across something else, causing damage — see cancer
See also
lichen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - algae
- fungus
- Iceland moss
- moss
- reindeer moss
References
- “lichen”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- “lichen” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- “lichen”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lichen, from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /li.kɛn/
Audio (file)
Noun
lichen m (plural lichens)
- 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) IPA(key): /ˈliː.kʰeːn/, [ˈlʲiːkʰeːn]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈli.ken/, [ˈliːken]
Noun
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
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
- 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)
Romanian
Etymology
From French lichen.
Noun
lichen m (plural licheni)
- 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 | ||