chitin

Etymology

From French chitine, from Latin chitōn (“mollusk”), from Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn). See also chiton.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kīʹtĭn, IPA^(key): /ˈkaɪtɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtɪn

Noun

chitin (countable and uncountable, plural chitins)

1. (biochemistry) A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
   • 1880, Arthur Gamgee, A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body‎, Macmillan, page 299:

     Chitin usually occurs throughout Invertebrates in the form of an investment to the outermost cellular layer or ectoderm.

   • 2004 September 11, New Scientist, page 19:

     The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton.

Anagrams

• itchin'