Orcin
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The organic compound 3,5-dihydroxytoluene, found in many lichens and synthesizable from toluene. countable, uncountable
Etymology
From French orcine, from New Latin orcina, from Dutch orseille, from French orseille, from Old French orchel, orseil, from Old Catalan orxella (influenced by dialectal Arabic [script needed] ('urjālla)), from Italian oricello, from Latin ōricilla, diminutive of ōricula (variant of auricula), both diminutives of auris (“ear”)) + illa (a double diminutive suffix) or from auris (“ear”) + cula + illa. The name of the dye was influenced by the visual resemblance of the lichen used in production to a small ear.
Related phrases
More for "orcin"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.