cuticle
pronunciation
How to pronounce cuticle in British English:
UK [ˈkju:tɪkl]
How to pronounce cuticle in American English:
US [ˈkjutɪkəl]
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- Noun:
- the outer layer of the skin covering the exterior body surface of vertebrates
- hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
Word Origin
- cuticle
- cuticle: see hide
- cuticle (n.)
- 1610s, from Latin cuticula, diminutive of cutis "skin," from PIE *ku-ti-, from root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (cognates: Lithuanian kiautas "husk," Old English hyd "skin, hide;" see hide (n.1)). Specialized sense of "skin at the base of the nail" is from 1907. Related: Cuticular.
Example
- 1. Boric acid works by abrading the roach 's shell or cuticle with its harsh particles .
- 2. When the trap door shuts , the plant excretes mucilage next to a special cuticle around the door , creating a watertight seal .
- 3. The pigments form a layer between 0 40 micrometres deep under the insect 's cuticle , putting them in the perfect position to capture the sun 's light .
- 4. Cuticle is a waxy substance laid down on the leaf surface as it develops , so looking at leaf cuticle is essentially the same as looking at a leaf 's outermost cells - the epidermis .
- 5. They occur as leaf and fruit compressions with the organic outermost cuticle layer on both sides of the leaves still intact .