cuticle

English

Etymology

From Middle French cuticule, from Latin cuticula (“cuticle, skin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkjuːtɪkəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkəl

Noun

cuticle (plural cuticles)

1. The outermost layer of the skin of vertebrates; the epidermis.
2. The strip of hardened skin at the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.
   • 1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, Vintage (2016), page 38:

     By that time she has pushed back his cuticles, cleaned his nails and painted them with clear polish.

3. Dead or cornified epidermis.
4. (zoology, botany) A noncellular protective covering outside the epidermis of many invertebrates and plants.
5. A thin skin formed on the surface of a liquid.

Synonyms

• (zoology, botany) (outer protective covering): cuticula

Derived terms

• cuticleless
• cuticular
• endocuticle
• epicuticle
• exocuticle
• mesocuticle
• procuticle
• subcuticle

 

Translations

outermost layer of skin of vertebrates — see epidermis

strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail

• Arabic: بُشَيْرَة (ar) f (bušayra)
• Bulgarian: живец (bg) m (živec)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 角質層／角质层 (zh) (jiǎozhìcéng)

• Czech: kůžička f
• Dutch: nagelriem (nl)
• Esperanto: kutiklo
• Finnish: kynsivalli, kynsinauha (fi)
• French: cuticule (fr) f
• Galician: cutícula f
• German: Nagelhaut (de) f
• Irish: cúitineach m
• Italian: cuticola (it) f
• Macedonian: жи́вец m (žívec), кути́кула f (kutíkula)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: neglebånd n, negleband n

  Nynorsk: nagleband n

• Portuguese: cutícula (pt) f
• Russian: кути́кула (ru) f (kutíkula)
• Scottish Gaelic: cneas m
• Spanish: cutícula (es) f
• Swedish: nagelband (sv) n
• Ukrainian: кути́кула f (kutýkula)

dead or cornified epidermis

• Finnish: kuollut iho
• Scottish Gaelic: cneas m

protective covering outside epidermis

• Catalan: cutícula f
• Finnish: kutikula (fi); pintakelmu (plants)
• French: cuticule (fr) f
• German: Cuticula f, Kutikula f
• Hungarian: kutikula (hu)
• Indonesian: kutikula (id)
• Italian: cuticola (it) f
• Japanese: クチクラ
• Malay: kutikel
• Polish: oskórek m, kutykula f
• Portuguese: cutícula (pt) f
• Spanish: cutícula (es) f
• Turkish: kütikula

See also

• nail
• thumbnail
• toenail
• quick