phycobilin

English

Etymology

From international scientific vocabulary, reflecting New Latin roots/stems referring to plants and bile. By surface analysis, phyco- +‎ bilin = phyco- +‎ bili- +‎ -in, although according to American Heritage Dictionary, bilin was back-formed from phycobilin (as opposed to phycobilin being derived from bilin as surface analysis suggests).

Noun

phycobilin (plural phycobilins)

1. (biochemistry) Any of a group of bilins (pigments derived from porphyrins) found in some photosynthetic algae; they are open-chain tetrapyrroles related to mammalian bile pigments.

Hypernyms

• bilane
• bilin

Coordinate terms

• bile pigment
• bilichrome

Translations

highly coloured pigment found in photosynthetic algae

• Italian: ficobilina (it) f