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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

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.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlaɪ.kən//ˈlɪtʃ.ən/
  1. 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
  2. Something which gradually spreads across something else, causing damage.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈlaɪ.kən//ˈlɪtʃ.ən/
  1. To cover with lichen.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.