cuticle

UK/ˈkjuːtɪkəl/US/ˈkjuːtɪkəl/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,424 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: cuticles

The cuticle is the skin at the base of a nail. Push back the cuticle, a torn cuticle, cuticle oil.

It seals the gap where the nail leaves the skin, which is why cutting it away invites infection — pushing it back gently is the safe alternative. In botany, the cuticle is the waxy layer on a leaf, and the word means a little skin.

Definitions of cuticle

1nouncuticleThe skin at the base of a nail.B2+
“She pushed back her cuticles before painting her nails.”

cuticle is a skin layer.

Where it comes from

Latin cuticula is a diminutive of cutis, the skin.

Latin
cutīcula — cuticle, skin
English, today
cuticle

Latin cutīcula (“cuticle, skin”). a doublet of cuticula.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Hair & Grooming

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cuticle in the wild

Since the cuticle of these animals typically forms a largely inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed.
Ecdysis
Cutin is one of two waxy polymers that are the main components of the plant cuticle, which covers all aerial surfaces of plants, the other being cutan.
Cutin
Cutin also harbors cuticular waxes, which assist in cuticle structure.
Cutin
Sclerotin is a component of the cuticle of various Arthropoda, most familiarly insects.
Sclerotin
A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection.
Cuticle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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