écaille

See also: écaillé

French

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /e.kaj/ ~ /e.kɑj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

écaille f (plural écailles)

1. scale (of fish, reptile etc.)
2. shell (of tortoise, oyster)
3. tortoiseshell (manufacturing material)

Derived terms

• écaille de tortue

Further reading

• “écaille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• caillée