alicorn
/ˈæ.lɪ.kɔɹn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.52 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The horn of a unicorn considered as a medical or pharmacological ingredient.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "He admits that powdered alicorn will delay the death of a poisoned pigeon, but says that any other horn will do the same thing by retarding assimilation."
- ""This happens to be my last voyage. But even so, I intend no coercion. If he does not value the alicorn to the extent of ten thousand Spanish dollars, I'll keep it myself. I'm rather fond of the thing. You see, it's a genuine unicorn's horn, and they're exceedingly few.""
- "Two kinds were on the market: Unicornum Verum (Alicorn), thought to be Mammoth Tusk, and Unicornum Falsum, Narwhal tusks."
- "What a fabulous beast was the mythical unicorn — with its horse's head and hoofs, and a single horn, the alicorn, growing out of its forehead."
- "The horn of the male narwhal, which sailors called the unicorn of the sea, is thought to have been the unicorn's horn, or alicorn, of medieval commerce. It was very widely believed that alicorn could be used to detect poisons, and when ground and added to a potion would prevent poisoning."
- "Tests to verify the authenticity of alicorn—most of which involved placing spiders near the horn and observing their reactions—were numerous, but apparently few detected bogus horn, for narwhal tusks, masquerading as unicorn horn, made their way into shops across Europe."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈæ.lɪ.kɔɹn/
- British English: /ˈæ.lɪ.kɔːn/