CUTICLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cuticle mean? 

• CUTICLE (noun)
  The noun CUTICLE has 3 senses:

1. the dead skin at the base of a fingernail or toenail

2. the outer layer of the skin covering the exterior body surface of vertebrates

3. hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles

  Familiarity information: CUTICLE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CUTICLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The dead skin at the base of a fingernail or toenail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("cuticle" is a kind of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The outer layer of the skin covering the exterior body surface of vertebrates

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

cuticle; epidermis

Hypernyms ("cuticle" is a kind of...):

stratum (one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock))

Meronyms (parts of "cuticle"):

epidermal cell (any of the cells making up the epidermis)

corneum; horny layer; stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the epidermis consisting of dead cells that slough off)

stratum lucidum (the layer of epidermis immediately under the stratum corneum in the skin of the palms and soles)

stratum granulosum (the layer of epidermis just under the stratum corneum or (on the palms and soles) just under the stratum lucidum; contains cells (with visible granules) that die and move to the surface)

malpighian layer; rete Malpighii; stratum basale; stratum germinativum (the innermost layer of the epidermis)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cuticle"):

mantle; pallium ((zoology) a protective layer of epidermis in mollusks or brachiopods that secretes a substance forming the shell)

Holonyms ("cuticle" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

carapace; cuticle; shell; shield

Hypernyms ("cuticle" is a kind of...):

scute (large bony or horny plate as on an armadillo or turtle or the underside of a snake)

Meronyms (substance of "cuticle"):

shell (the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cuticle"):

cuticula (the outer body wall of an insect)

Holonyms ("cuticle" is a part of...):

turtle (any of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming)

arthropod (invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin)

mollusc; mollusk; shellfish (invertebrate having a soft unsegmented body usually enclosed in a shell)

Derivation:

cuticular (of or relating to a cuticle or cuticula)

 Context examples 

It works by stripping the waxy cuticle of the plant, causing cell disruption, cell leakage, and death by desiccation.

(Nonanoic Acid, NCI Thesaurus)

Ridges may be vertical (running from the cuticle to the nail tip) or horizontal (running from one side of the nail to the other).

(Nail Ridging, NCI Thesaurus)

Do not remove the cuticle, which can cause infection.

(Nail Diseases, NIH)

My chest was raw and red, and I could see tiny blood globules starting through the torn and inflamed cuticle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)