carapace

Etymology

Borrowed from French carapace (“tortoise shell”), from Portuguese carapaça (“carapace, shell”), of uncertain origin.^[1] Compare Catalan carabassa. Possibly related to Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “beetle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeɹ.əˌpeɪs/, /ˈkæ.ɹəˌpeɪs/

Noun

carapace (plural carapaces)

1. A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
2. in figurative use
   • 1928, Edward A. Ross, World Drift, New York; London: The Century Co., page 12:

     So, little by little, youth loosens the hard carapace of confining custom their elders have built over the human heart.

   • 2010 January 8, Simon Jenkins, “The proliferation of nuclear panic is politics at its most ghoulish” in The Guardian, §: “Comment & Debate”, page 29, column 4

     This is all a massive failure of science to pierce the carapace of public ignorance.

References

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese carapaça (“carapace, shell”), of uncertain origin.

Noun

carapace f (plural carapaces)

1. shell

Further reading

• “carapace” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

Borrowed from French carapace (“tortoise shell”), from Portuguese carapaça (“carapace, shell”), of uncertain origin.

Noun

carapace m (plural carapaci)

1. carapace