nacre
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nacre
1590–1600; < Medieval Latin nacrum, nacer, variant of nacara < Old Italian naccara kind of drum, nacre < Arabic naqqārah drum
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A well-known example is nacre, which is used in jewellery because of its iridescent colours.
From Science Daily • Jan. 12, 2024
Dull on the outside, its nacre gleams pearlescent within.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 14, 2021
Some bivalves like oysters and mussels have the unique ability to secrete and deposit a calcareous nacre or “mother of pearl” around foreign particles that enter the mantle cavity.
From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013
The oyster reacts to the introduction of the foreign body by coating it with layers of nacre - crystallized calcium carbonate and an organic protein.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2012
The popular belief has been that the pearl was formed by secretions of nacre deposited upon a grain of sand or other foreign particle drawn within the oyster through its contact with the sea's bottom.
From East of Suez Ceylon, India, China and Japan by Penfield, Frederic Courtland
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
