nacre
See also: nacré
English
WOTD – 25 October 2015
Etymology
From Middle French nacre, from Late Latin nacchara, perhaps from Arabic نَقَّارَة (naqqāra) (see nacarat for more).
Noun
nacre (plural nacres)
- (obsolete) A shellfish which contains mother-of-pearl. [16th-19th c.]
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- The shell-fish called a Nacre, liveth even so with the Pinnotere, which is a little creature like unto a Crabfish […].
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- A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells; mother-of-pearl. [from 17th c.]
- 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:
- On a little table of dark perfumed wood thickly encrusted with nacre, […] was lying a note from Lord Henry, and beside it was a book bound in yellow paper, the cover slightly torn and the edges soiled.
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Derived terms
Translations
pearly substance on the interior of shells — see mother-of-pearl
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nakʁ/
Noun
nacre f (plural nacres)
- mother-of-pearl (the hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells)
Verb
nacre
Further reading
- “nacre” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French
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