carapace

Definition

A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "So, little by little, youth loosens the hard carapace of confining custom their elders have built over the human heart."
• "This is all a massive failure of science to pierce the carapace of public ignorance."

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