pellicle

[pel-i-kuhl]

noun

1. a thin skin or membrane; film; scum.

2. SCOBY.

3. Photography.,  a thin, partially reflective coating, as on a beam splitter or pellicle mirror.

pellicle

/ ˈpɛlɪkəl, pɛˈlɪkjʊlə /

noun

1. a thin skin or film

2. the hard protective outer layer of certain protozoans, such as those of the genus Paramecium

3. botany

   1. the thin outer layer of a mushroom cap

   2. a growth on the surface of a liquid culture

4. photog the thin layer of emulsion covering a plate, film, or paper

Other Word Forms

• pellicular adjective
• pelliculate adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pellicle¹

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin pellicul(a), equivalent to pelli(s) “skin” + -cula noun suffix ( -cle ¹ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pellicle¹

C16: via French from Latin pellicula, from pellis skin

Example Sentences

Lovers of home-brewed kombucha may actually be familiar with the raw nanocellulose material — it forms as a floating off-white structure called a pellicle.

Read more on Salon

Before smoking, refrigerate the cheese uncovered the night before so it develops a "pellicle" — that sticky surface to which the smoke will adhere.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"We are acquainted with a mere pellicle of the globe on which we live," writes Thoreau, "We know not where we are."

Read more on The Guardian

Young resembling parents, but penultimate instar passive and enclosed in a filmy pellicle.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Soon, however, the macerated roof-wall yields, leaving a reddish floor where the mucous membrane is exposed, denuded of its epithelial layer or covered with a new tender and hyper�mic pellicle.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fur 
• leather 
• skin 
• wool