Melanin

Definition: Melanin

Melanin

Noun

1. Insoluble pigments that account for the color of e.g. skin and scales and feathers.

Etymology: Melanin \Mel"a*nin\, noun. [from Greek expression me`las, -anos, black.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definitions: Melanin

Domain	Definitions
Health	The substance that gives the skin its color. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Melanin

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Melanin is a pigment that affects skin, eye, and hair colour in humans and other mammals. It is produced by melanocytes, which are found in the bottom layer of the skin's epidermis. Some individual animals and humans have no or very little melanin in their bodies, which condition is known as albinism. Melanin helps protect the skin from damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. Most people's skin darkens when exposed to UV light, giving them more protection when it is needed.

People whose ancestors lived for long periods in the regions of the globe near the equator generally have larger quantities of melanin in their skins, making their skins dark brown or black and protecting them against high levels of UV exposure. In areas of the globe closer to the poles, people have far less need for protection from ultraviolet, so their skin is usually lighter in colour. This allows sunlight to stimulate vitamin D production.

Freckles and moless are formed where there is a greater concentration of melanin in the skin.

See also human skin color

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Melanin."

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Crosswords: Melanin

English words defined with "melanin": colored, coloured ♦ dark, dark-skinned ♦ freckle, Fuscin ♦ lentigo ♦ melanise, melanism, melanize, melanocyte, melanosis. (references)

Specialty definitions using "melanin": alpha-MSH ♦ melanin concentrating hormone. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Melanin

Domain	Title
Books	From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (Point Signature) (reference) Melanin & Me (reference) Melanin : a key to freedom, with an extensive glossary & bibliography (reference) Melanin and Melanoid With Medical Etymology and Medical Epistemology (reference) Melanin 'N Me (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Melanin Man (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Melanin

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		The degree of protection afforded by melanin is unclear. (references)
		It is also the precursor of epinephrine, thyroid hormones, and melanin. (references)
		The disorder is caused by excessive deposits of melanin (normal skin pigment). (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Melanin

"Melanin" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Melanin" is used about 24 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	24	71,196

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Melanin

Expression using "melanin": melanin concentrating hormone. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "melanin": melanin-like.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Melanin

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
melanin	187
melanin pill	10
increase melanin	7
black chemical greatness key melanin	5
skin melanin	4
melanin production	4
melanin supplement	4
hyperpigmentation melanin	4
filter melanin	4
melanin glasses	2
buy melanin	2
melanin produce	2
melanin sarna	2
melanin tanning	2
color melanin skin	2
gray hair melanin	2
injection melanin	2
melanin ocular	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Melanin

Language		Translations for "melanin"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		Eiselt's melaninprøve (Eiselt melanin test). (various references)

Dutch		reactie van Eiselt op melanine in de urine (Eiselt melanin test). (various references)

French		mise en évidence de la mélanine par la méthode d'Eiselt (Eiselt melanin test). (various references)

German		Eiselt Melaninprobe (Eiselt melanin test). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		メディア王 (management, media mogul, medical engineering, medical social worker, medical technologist, meditation, medley, medley relay, melamine, memoires, memorandum, memorial hall, memory, memory card, memory dump, Meniere, menu, metric, metro, metronome, metropolis, metropolitan, minuet, Moebius, MSW, MT, remembrances, testimonial, to take notes). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		メラニン . (various references)

Pig Latin		elaninmay

Russian		меланин. (various references)

Spanish		melanina. (various references)

Thai		เม็ดสีดำน้ำตาลในผิวหนัง ผม เนื้อเยื่อ. (various references)

Ukranian		меланін. (various references)

Vietnamese		mêlanin, hắc tố. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Melanin

Derivations
	Words beginning with "melanin": melanins. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Melanin" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Amelavi, Elhanan, Malainine, malinin, malsain, Maylandia, Mclarnon, Mealin, Meani, meanin, mecanno, mehain, Melami, melamis, melan, melanau, melane, Melangin, Melani, melania, melanie, melanins, Melanion, Melantis, Mellini, melna, Melnik, Meloni, Melwani, mesanin, Mevanian, Milani, Milanov, miluji, Misanin, Mollandia, mulazim. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Melanin"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "melanin" (pronounced me"luni'n)
4	-u n i' n	bradykinin.
3	-n i' n	lignin, serotonin.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Melanin

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: lineman.
	Words within the letters "a-e-i-l-m-n-n"
	-1 letter: maline, menial.
	-2 letters: alien, aline, amine, anile, anime, elain, email, inane, leman, liane, liman, limen, linen, maile, minae.
	-3 letters: alme, amen, amie, amin, anil, elan, ilea, lain, lame, lane, lean, lien, lima, lime, limn, line, linn, mail, main, male, mane, meal, mean, mien, mile, mina, mine, nail, name, nema, nine.
	-4 letters: ail, aim, ain.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-i-l-m-n-n"
	+1 letter: landmine, linesman, mainline, melanian, melanins.
	+2 letters: alignment, alinement, almandine, denominal, emplaning, enameling, enflaming, lamenting, landmines, lineament, luminance, mainlined, mainlines, mandoline, manliness, meaningly, melatonin, meningeal, millennia, plainsmen, signalmen, unmanlier.
	+3 letters: alignments, alimenting, alinements, almandines, emalangeni, empaneling, enamelling, entailment, immanently, impaneling, inhumanely, instalment, lineaments, luminances, mainlander, malignance, manchineel, mandolines, meaningful, melanizing, melatonins, menacingly, millennial, mischannel, misplanned, nonmedical, semiannual, signalment, unmanliest.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.