Quite the opposite of a xenophile, someone who is xenophobic has an outwardly distaste for anyone and anything foreign. Xenophileĭo you have a friend whose room is covered in posters of French actresses like Audrey Tautou and Marion Cotillard? They might be a xenophile, or a person who's enamored by foreign styles, people, and cultures. If there's an 'X' in their rotation of letters, they can break out their knowledge of the periodic table and throw a xenon on the board, scoring a cool 12 points (not including any potential board bonuses). Xenonīe careful about playing Scrabble with a chemistry nerd.

XenolithĪ xenolith, or a 'foreign rock,' is a rock fragment that becomes absorbs by a larger rock as the latter hardens.

When a piece of living tissue is surgically transferred from one species to another, this is called a xenograft. In the world of botany, xenogamy refers to the pollination of a flower via pollen from a different type of plant, or cross-pollination. When a doctor or a scientist makes a xenodiagnosis, they are giving supposedly infected material from a human to an intermediate host ( like an insect) to determine whether there is a parasite present. And while you probably won't ever hear this historical word come up in conversation, that doesn't mean that you can't use it to dominate in Scrabble. (So, a lot of people.) XebecĪlso sometimes spelled with a 'z,' a xebec was a a Mediterranean sailing vessel used primarily for trading goods. Using its archaic definition, someone who is xanthous has either red, auburn, brown, or yellowish hair. These are yellow-orange pigments found everywhere from plant leaves to paprika.

The yellow color that you see in an egg yolk is all thanks to xanthophylls. When lipids accumulate under the skin, a xanthoma-or a yellowish growth-can appear, usually indicating an underlying medical condition such as hyperlipidemia or hypothyroidism. Something that is xanthic tends to have a yellow color, similar to how something that is cyanic tends to fall on the spectrum of blues. Xanthateįor the sake of Scrabble, all you need to know is that xanthate is a chemical salt with letters that add up to 18 points. Its purpose? To prevent ingredients in shelf-stable and refrigerated products from separating (and also scoring you some major points in Scrabble). Xanthan is a type of gum (though not the bubble-blowing chewable kind) used by the food industry as a thickening agent.

Instrument starting with n