Dictionary

carapace en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɛɹ.əˌpeɪs/ (General-American)
• /ˈkæ.ɹəˌpeɪs/

Etymology

Etymology tree substrateder.? Spanish carapachobor. French carapacebor. English carapace Borrowed from French carapace (“tortoise shell”), from Spanish carapacho, of unknown origin, but likely from an extinct Ibero-Mediterranean substrate language. Compare Catalan carabassa, Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “beetle”), Latin scarabaeus (the source of scarab); also Spanish galápago (“kind of turtle”). Doublet of calipash.

Meanings

1. A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
2. (figuratively) That which protects.
   • So, little by little, youth loosens the hard carapace of confining custom their elders have built over the human heart. 1928, Edward A. Ross, World Drift, New York; London: The Century Co., page 12:
   • This is all a massive failure of science to pierce the carapace of public ignorance. 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:

Forms

Deriveds

carapaceous · carapacelike · pseudocarapace · carapacial · carapacic · carapaced

Relateds

exoskeleton

Translations (51)

cy argragen (hard protective covering) · ru па́нцирь (hard protective covering) · la carapāx (hard protective covering) · fr carapace (hard protective covering) · el καύκαλο (hard protective covering) · cmn 甲殼 /甲壳 (hard protective covering) · sm una (hard protective covering) · ms karapas کاراڤس (hard protective covering) · pt carapaça (hard protective covering) · es carapacho (hard protective covering) · el κέλυφος (hard protective covering) · bg кору́ба (hard protective covering) · bg черу́пка (hard protective covering) · ca clotxa (hard protective covering) · qu mayt'una (hard protective covering) · tr kabuk (hard protective covering) · ja 甲羅 (hard protective covering) · de Rückenschild (hard protective covering) · cs krunýř (hard protective covering) · ru щито́к (hard protective covering) · pam talukab (hard protective covering) · ms sisik (hard protective covering) · ru карапа́кс (hard protective covering) · de Schale (hard protective covering) · ga casóg (hard protective covering) · th กระดอง (hard protective covering) · nl carapax (hard protective covering) · de Rückenpanzer (hard protective covering) · es caparazón (hard protective covering) · nl schild (hard protective covering) · fi panssari (hard protective covering) · af rugdop (hard protective covering) · eo karapaco (hard protective covering) · pl karapaks (hard protective covering) · to ʻuno (hard protective covering) · is skel (hard protective covering) · is bakskjöldur (hard protective covering) · ru щит (hard protective covering) · af rugskild (hard protective covering) · it carapace (hard protective covering) · ca closca (hard protective covering) · it esoscheletro (hard protective covering) · fi selkäkilpi (hard protective covering) · haw una (hard protective covering) · cs karapax (hard protective covering) · ast cascu (hard protective covering) · ro carapace (hard protective covering) · cs štít (hard protective covering) · ko 갑각 (hard protective covering) · fi kilpi (hard protective covering) · de Carapax (hard protective covering)