chitin
See also: Chitin
English
Etymology
From French chitine, from Latin chitōn (“mollusk”), from Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn). See also chiton.
Pronunciation
- enPR: kīʹtĭn, IPA(key): /ˈkaɪtɪn/
- Rhymes: -aɪtɪn
Noun
chitin (countable and uncountable, plural chitins)
- (biochemistry) A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
- 1880, Arthur Gamgee, A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body, Macmillan, p. 299
- Chitin usually occurs throughout Invertebrates in the form of an investment to the outermost cellular layer or ectoderm.
- 2004, New Scientist, 11 Sep 2004, p.19
- The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton.
- 1880, Arthur Gamgee, A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body, Macmillan, p. 299
Derived terms
- chitinaceous
- chitinase
- chitinization
- chitinlike
- chitinoid
- chitinolysis
- chitinous
- lipochitin
- polychitin
Translations
polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in arthropod and fungi
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References
- chitin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “chitin”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
- itchin'