An iridescence layer of mother-of-pearl covering the inner side of the Nautilus shell.
Etymology
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Calque of Latin māter perlārum , with the first element perhaps connected in popular imagination with obsolete mother ( “ dregs ” ) .[1] Possibly referring to the fact that the nacre-lined shells are the belly (“mother”) in which pearls are produced.
Pronunciation
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IPA (key ) : /ˌmʌðəɹ əv ˈpɜː(ɹ)l/
mother -of -pearl (countable and uncountable , plural mother-of-pearls )
The hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells; nacre .
1837 , L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon ], “Another London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. [ … ] , volume I, London: Henry Colburn , [ … ] , →OCLC , page 170 :Ah, those Indian warehouses made the morning pass in a charming manner! many a soft confession was whispered over a huge china jar; many a heart has succumbed to a suite of mother-of-pearl card-box and counters; and as to the shawls, why, the whole feminine world has long ago acknowledged them to be irresistible.
A butterfly of the genus Salamis .
Alternative forms
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Synonyms
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Translations
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pearly layer
Abkhaz: амыркылд ( amərkʼəld )
Albanian: sedef (sq) m
Arabic: عِرْق اللُّؤْلُؤ m ( ʕirq al-luʔluʔ ) , صَدَف m ( ṣadaf ) , أُمّ اللَّآلِئ f ( ʔumm al-laʔāliʔ )
Armenian: սադափ (hy) ( sadapʿ )
Azerbaijani: sədəf
Bashkir: мәрүәт ( mərwət )
Belarusian: перламу́тр m ( pjerlamútr ) , пэрляму́тар m ( perljamútar )
Bengali: মৌক্তিক ( mōuktik )
Bulgarian: седе́ф m ( sedéf )
Burmese: မုတ်ခွံ (my) ( muthkwam ) , ကနုကမာ (my) ( ka.nu.ka.ma )
Buryat: эржэн ( eržen ) , тана ( tana )
Catalan: mareperla (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 珍珠母 ( zhēnzhūmǔ ) , 珧 (zh) ( yáo )
Czech: perleť f
Danish: perlemor (da) n
Dutch: parelmoer (nl) n
Estonian: pärlmutter
Finnish: helmiäinen (fi)
French: nacre (fr) f
Friulian: mariperle f
Georgian: სადაფი ( sadapi )
German: Perlmutt (de) n , Perlmutter (de) f or n
Greek: φίλντισι (el) n ( fílntisi )
Ancient: πινάριον n ( pinárion )
Hebrew: דַּר (he) m ( dar )
Hindi: सीप (hi) m ( sīp )
Hungarian: gyöngyház (hu)
Icelandic: perlumóðir f
Indonesian: indung mutiara (id) , giwang (id)
Irish: néamhann m
Italian: madreperla (it) f
Japanese: 真珠層 ( しんじゅそう, shinjusō ) , 真珠母 ( しんじゅぼ, shinjubo )
Kalmyk: тан ( tan )
Kazakh: седеп ( sedep ) , тана ( tana )
Korean: 진주층 ( jinjucheung ) , 진주모 ( jinjumo )
Kyrgyz: седеп (ky) ( sedep )
Latvian: perlamutrs m
Lithuanian: perlamutras m
Macedonian: седеф m ( sedef )
Maranao: lageng
Mongolian: тана (mn) ( tana )
Navajo: diichiłí
Norwegian:
Bokmål: perlemor (no) m or n , kjerne (no) m
Nynorsk: perlemor n
Pashto: صدف (ps) m ( sadáf )
Persian: صدف (fa) ( sadaf )
Polish: masa perłowa (pl) f , macica perłowa (pl) f
Portuguese: madrepérola f , nácar (pt) m
Romanian: sidef (ro) n
Russian: перламу́тр (ru) m ( perlamútr )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сѐдеф m
Roman: sèdef (sh) m
Slovak: perleť f
Slovene: sedef m
Southern Altai: тана ( tana )
Spanish: nácar (es) m , madreperla (es) f
Swedish: pärlemor (sv) c
Tagalog: nakar , inamperlas , binga
Tajik: садаф ( sadaf )
Tatar: пәрәмәч (tt) ( pärämäç )
Telugu: ముత్యపుచిప్ప ( mutyapucippa )
Turkish: sedef (tr)
Turkmen: sadap
Ukrainian: перламу́тр m ( perlamútr )
Urdu: سیپ m ( sīp ) , صدف ( sadaf )
Uyghur: سەدەپ ( sedep )
Uzbek: sadaf (uz)
Vietnamese: xà cừ (vi)
Walloon: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: nacr m , cregynwisg f
Yakan: tipey
Yiddish: פּערל־מוטער ( perl-muter )
Adjective
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mother -of -pearl (not comparable )
Made from or looking like mother-of-pearl; iridescent or pearly .
See also
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References
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“mother-of-pearl”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin , 2000 , →ISBN .
“mother-of-pearl ”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged , Dictionary.com, LLC , 1995–present.
"mother-of-pearl " in On-line Medical Dictionary , University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1997–2005.
"mother-of-pearl " in WordNet 2.0 , Princeton University, 2003.