lichen

CEFRC1

/ˈlaɪ.kən/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A simple plant-like growth found on rocks and trees.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Something which gradually spreads across something else, causing damage.

Examples

  • Caribou eat almost only lichen during the winter.

  • 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.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈlɪtʃ.ən/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. To cover with lichen.

  2. 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.

More examples

In context

  • The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall, / The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!

  • […] making the rocks assume the mould of age and lichening the trees with damp beauty.

  • The nibble marks of the stone adze were still visible, though crusted over with scale lichens in most places.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The gray-green blank on the old tombstone thrived in the damp, shaded cemetery.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Latin līchēn, from Ancient Greek λειχήν (leikhḗn), from λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick”). Originally used of liverwort; the modern sense first recorded 1715.