English Explanatory Dictionary

noctilucine

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A nitrogenous substance in fireflies, glowworms and marine animals, once believed to be responsible for their luminescence.

Word forms

noctilucine noctilucin

Etymology

From Latin noctilūca (“firefly”) + -ine. Term coined by British scientist Thomas Lamb Phipson (1833–1908). It appeared first in his article On noctilucine, the phosphorescent principle of luminous animals, published in The chemical new, vol. 32, no. 832, on November 5, 1875.

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