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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

lichen

/ˈlaɪkən/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:13
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What does lichen mean?

noun

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

verb

  1. To cover with lichen.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈlaɪkən/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

It was a widespread, comfortable-looking building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon the grey walls.
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Adventures of Sherlock HolmesProject Gutenberg ebook #1661
It was the united products of infinitesimal vegetable causes, and these were neither stems, leaves, fruit, blades, prickles, lichen, nor moss.
Thomas HardyThe Return of the NativeProject Gutenberg ebook #122
More book examples (3)
The ear may be regarded, fancifully, as a lichen, umbilicaria, on the side of the head, with its lobe or drop.
Henry David ThoreauWalden, and On The Duty Of Civil DisobedienceProject Gutenberg ebook #205
In my collection, which includes, I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, there are twenty species, without reckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus.
Charles DarwinThe Voyage of the BeagleProject Gutenberg ebook #944
He stepped over to the nearest tree—an old, old one with gray lichen all over its bark, but upholding a curtain of tangled sprays and branches.
Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Secret GardenProject Gutenberg ebook #113