écaille
See also: écaillé
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Middle French escaille, from Old French escaille (“scale”), from Frankish *skallija (“scale, shell”), from Proto-Germanic *skaljō (“scale, shell, husk”) ( > English shell), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut, part, sunder, split, divide”). Compare Italian scaglia. Doublet of écale.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
écaille f (plural écailles)
- scale (of fish, reptile etc.)
- shell (of tortoise, oyster)
- tortoiseshell (manufacturing material)
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “écaille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.