Other forms: enamels
Enamel is a hard glassy coating melted onto metal. Enamel paint, an enamel mug, chipped enamel.
Powdered glass is fused to the metal at high heat, which is why enamel is glossy and hard and why it chips rather than scratches. Enamel jewellery is decorated the same way, and cloisonné is enamel in wire cells. Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue in the body and does not grow back, which is the whole reason for brushing. Note enamel paint, which only imitates the finish.
1nounenamelA hard glassy coating melted onto metal.
“The old enamel bath had chipped, showing the dark metal underneath.”
2nounlayerThe hard outer layer of a tooth.
“Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue there is and never regrows.”
enamel is a hard coating.
Anglo-Norman enamailler is en- plus a word from Frankish smalt, related to Proto-Germanic smeltana, to melt. Smelt and melt are the same family, and enamel is literally something melted on.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)meld-
Proto-Germanic
*smeltaną — to melt, smelt
Frankish
*smalt
la-eme
smaltum
Old French
esmailler — to enamel
Anglo-Norman
enamailler
Middle English
enamel
English, today
enamel
Built from
From Middle English enamel, from Anglo-Norman enamailler, from en- (“in-”) + amailler (“to enamel”), variant of Old French esmailler (“to enamel”), from esmal (“enamel”), from la-eme smaltum, from Frankish smalt, from Proto-Germanic smeltaną (“to melt, smelt”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Materials & Substances, Jewellery & Watches