different between richen vs lichen

English

Etymology

From rich +? -en.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t???n/

Verb

richen (third-person singular simple present richens, present participle richening, simple past and past participle richened)

1. (transitive) To make or render rich or richer.
2. (intransitive) To become rich or richer; become superior in quality, condition or effectiveness.
3. (intransitive, of a colour) To gain richness; become heightened or intensified in brilliancy.

Translations

Anagrams

• Rhenic, enrich, incher, nicher, rhenic

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German riohhan, from Proto-Germanic *reukan?. Cognate with German riechen, Dutch rieken, English reek, West Frisian rûke, Icelandic rjúka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i??n/

Verb

richen (third-person singular present richt, past participle gericht or geroch, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to smell
2. (intransitive) to stink, to smell, to reek

Conjugation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin l?ch?n (“ringworm”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (leikh?n).

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?'k?n, IPA^(key): /?la?.k?n/
• (also, especially in the UK) IPA^(key): /?l?.t??n/
• Rhymes: -a?k?n, -?t??n
• Homophone: liken

Noun

lichen (countable and uncountable, plural lichens or lichen)

1. Any of many symbiotic organisms, being associations of algae and fungi, often found as white or yellow patches on old walls, etc.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, ch XI

     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.

   • 1915, John Muir, Travels in Alaska, ch V

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

2. (figuratively) Something which gradually spreads across something else, causing damage.

   Synonym: cancer

Hyponyms

• (symbiotic organism): macrolichen, microlichen

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• lichen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• algae
• fungus
• Iceland moss
• moss
• reindeer moss

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lichen, from Ancient Greek ?????? (leikh?n).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.k?n/

Noun

lichen m (plural lichens)

1. lichen

Derived terms

• lichen plan
• lichénique

Further reading

• “lichen” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• chelin

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ?????? (leikh?n).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?li?.k?e?n/, [?li?k?e?n]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?li.ken/, [?li?k?n]

Noun

l?ch?n m (genitive l?ch?nos or l?ch?nis); third declension

1. (literally) a cryptogamic species of vegetation growing on trees, lichen
2. (transferred sense, medicine) an eruption on the skin of men and beasts, a tetter, ringworm
   1. (and especially) a callous excrescence upon the leg of a horse, used as a medicine

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type).

Derived terms

• l?ch?nif?rmis

Related terms

• l?ch?na
• l?ch?nicos

Descendants

• English: lichen
• French: lichen
• Galician: lique
• Portuguese: líquen
• Spanish: liquen

References

• l?ch?n in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• l?ch?n in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 909/3
• “l?ch?n” on page 1,029/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

Romanian

Etymology

From French lichen

Noun

lichen m (plural licheni)

1. lichen

Declension