lichen
/ˈlaɪ.kən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall, / The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!"
- "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."
- "The nibble marks of the stone adze were still visible, though crusted over with scale lichens in most places."
- "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."
- "[…] making the rocks assume the mould of age and lichening the trees with damp beauty."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *leyǵʰ-, λειχήν
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
antilichen
ascolichen
basidolichen
cephalolichen
chlorolichen
cyanolichen
discolichen
lichenaceous
lichenal
lichenase
lichened
lichenic
Phrases
antler lichen
ball lichen
beard lichen
blister lichen
borderline lichen
British soldiers lichen
byssoid lichen
cobblestone lichen