From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmelaninmel‧a‧nin /ˈmelənɪn/ noun [uncountable] HBHa natural dark brown colour in human skin, hair, and eyes
Examples from the Corpus
melanin• This worship of muscle and melanin to the exclusion of other qualities has become part of black sensibilities, too.• This reaction produces a dark pigment known as melanin, which is responsible for the discolouration.• Young skin is less able naturally to protect itself as it contains less melanin and therefore has less tanning ability.• The darker you are, the more melanin your skin will produce.• The disease, however, may be triggered in moles containing unusually high concentrations of melanin.• As a result, a shortage of melanin gives a cat a white coat and blue eyes-and destroys its hearing.• When melanin stops being fed into hair follicles altogether, any new hair grows in white.Origin melanin (1800-1900) Greek melas “black” + English -in chemical substance 