mother-of-pearl
The hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shellsThe hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells; nacre.
Meaning
3 senses(countable, uncountable)The hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells; nacre.
Perlmutt, Perlmutter
перламу́трperlamútr
перламу́трperlamútr
the iridescent internal layer of a mollusk shell
(countable, uncountable)A butterfly of the genus Salamis.
(countable, uncountable)A butterfly of the species Patania ruralis.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Calque of Latin māter perlārum, with the first element perhaps connected in popular imaginCalque of Latin māter perlārum, with the first element perhaps connected in popular imagination with obsolete mother (“dregs”). Possibly referring to the fact that the nacre-lined shells are the belly (“mother”) in which pearls are produced.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: mother-of-pearlsSynonyms
1 synonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.