nacre
See also: nacré
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French nacre, from Medieval Latin nacchara, from Arabic نَقَّارَة (naqqāra). Doublet of nagara. Also present in nacarat.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈneɪkə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈneɪkəɹ/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪkə(ɹ)
Noun edit
nacre (countable and uncountable, plural nacres)
- (obsolete) A shellfish which contains mother-of-pearl. [16th–19th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- The shell-fish called a Nacre, liveth even so with the Pinnotere, which is a little creature like unto a Crabfish […].
- A pearly substance made mainly of stacked layers of aragonite and organic matter 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.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
pearly substance on the interior of shells — see mother-of-pearl
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Middle French nacre.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
nacre f (plural nacres)
- mother-of-pearl (the hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells)
Verb edit
nacre
- inflection of nacrer:
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “nacre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams edit
Middle French edit
Etymology edit
From Old French nacre, nacaire, from Medieval Latin nacchara, from Arabic نَقَّارَة (naqqāra).
Noun edit
nacre m (plural nacres)
- nacre (shellfish)
- 1608, chapter 42, in Histoire du monde... mis en français par Antoine Dupinet, page 490:
- Les Nacres aussi sont de la race des poissons à escailles.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)