Meanings
plural cuticles
- The outermost layer of the skin of vertebrates.
- The strip of hardened skin at the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.
By that time she has pushed back his cuticles, cleaned his nails and painted them with clear polish.
1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, Vintage (2016), page 38Synonyms: epidermis, perionychium, perionyx
- Dead or cornified epidermis.
Synonyms: epidermis
- biologyA noncellular protective covering outside the epidermis of many invertebrates.
Holonym: exoskeleton
- biologyA noncellular protective covering outside the epidermis of many plants.
- A thin skin formed on the surface of a liquid.
- A protective layer on the shell of a bird's egg.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe strip of hardened skin at the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.
nounDead or cornified epidermis.
outer protective covering
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe outer layer of the skin covering the exterior body surface of vertebrates
nounhard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincutīcula“cuticle, skin”
- Englishcuticle
Learned borrowing from Latin cutīcula (“cuticle, skin”). Doublet of cuticula.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بُشَيْرَة
- بُشَيْرَة (bušayra)strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Bulgarian живец
- живец (živec)strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Catalan cutícula
- cutículaprotective covering outside epidermis
Chinese Mandarin 角質層 /角质层
- 角質層 /角质层 (jiǎozhìcéng)strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Czech kůžička
- kůžičkastrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Dutch nagelriem
- nagelriemstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Esperanto kutiklo
- kutiklostrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Finnish kynsivalli, kynsinauha
- kynsivallistrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- kynsinauhastrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- kuollut ihodead or cornified epidermis
- kutikulaprotective covering outside epidermis
- pintakelmuprotective covering outside epidermis
French cuticule, cuticule
- cuticulestrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- cuticuleprotective covering outside epidermis
German Nagelhaut, Cuticula
- Nagelhautstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- Cuticulaprotective covering outside epidermis
- Kutikulaprotective covering outside epidermis
Hungarian kutikula
- kutikulaprotective covering outside epidermis
Indonesian kutikula
- kutikulaprotective covering outside epidermis
Irish cúitineach
- cúitineachstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Italian cuticola, cuticola
- cuticolastrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- cuticolaprotective covering outside epidermis
Japanese クチクラ
- クチクラprotective covering outside epidermis
Malay kutikel
- kutikelprotective covering outside epidermis
Norwegian Bokmål neglebånd, negleband
- neglebåndstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- neglebandstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Norwegian Nynorsk nagleband
- naglebandstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Polish oskórek, kutykula
- oskórekprotective covering outside epidermis
- kutykulaprotective covering outside epidermis
Portuguese cutícula, cutícula
- cutículastrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- cutículaprotective covering outside epidermis
Russian кути́кула
- кути́кула (kutíkula)strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Scottish Gaelic cneas, cneas
- cneasstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- cneasdead or cornified epidermis
Spanish cutícula, cutícula
- cutículastrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
- cutículaprotective covering outside epidermis
Swedish nagelband
- nagelbandstrip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Turkish kütikula
- kütikulaprotective covering outside epidermis
Ukrainian кути́кула
- кути́кула (kutýkula)strip of hardened skin at the base of the finger and toenail
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with cuticle
Cite this entry
cuticle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuticle
“cuticle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuticle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cuticle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuticle.
Source: cuticle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.