carapace

English

Diagram of a prawn, with the carapace highlighted in red.

Alternative forms

• carapax (nonstandard)

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ɹəˌpeɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹ.əˌpeɪs/

Noun

carapace (plural carapaces)

2. A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
   • 2026, Erin Hunter [pseudonym; The Erin Hunter Team: Cherith Baldry, Clarissa Hutton, Rosie Best, Michael Ford, Inbali Iserles], Renegades: Book One: The Magic Awakens, page 190:

     They were heading towards a waiting black car, polished as a beetle's carapace.

3. (figurative) That which protects.
   • 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.

Derived terms

• carapaced
• carapacelike
• carapaceous
• carapacial
• carapacic
• pseudocarapace

Translations

hard protective covering

• Afrikaans: rugdop, rugskild
• Asturian: cascu (ast) m
• Bulgarian: черу́пка (bg) f (čerúpka), кору́ба (bg) f (korúba)
• Catalan: closca (ca) f, clotxa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 甲殼 / 甲壳 (zh) (jiǎké, jiǎqiào)

• Czech: štít (cs) m, krunýř (cs) m, karapax m
• Dutch: carapax, schild (nl) n
• Esperanto: karapaco
• Finnish: kilpi (fi), selkäkilpi; panssari (fi) (coll.)
• French: carapace (fr) f
• German: Carapax m, Rückenschild m (of turtles and tortoises), Rückenpanzer m (of turtles and tortoises), Schale (de) f (of crustaceans)
• Greek: κέλυφος (el) n (kélyfos), καύκαλο (el) n (káfkalo)
• Hawaiian: una (of turtles)
• Icelandic: skel (is) f, bakskjöldur m
• Irish: casóg f (of crustaceans)
• Italian: carapace (it) m, esoscheletro (it) m
• Japanese: 甲羅 (ja) (こうら, kōra)
• Kapampangan: talukab (of crabs and alike)
• Korean: 갑각 (gapgak)
• Latin: carapāx m or f
• Malay: karapas کاراڤس, sisik (of turtles)
• Polish: karapaks (pl) m
• Portuguese: carapaça (pt) f
• Quechua: mayt'una
• Romanian: carapace (ro)
• Russian: карапа́кс (ru) m (karapáks), щито́к (ru) m (ščitók), щит (ru) m (ščit), па́нцирь (ru) m (páncirʹ)
• Samoan: una (of turtles)
• Spanish: carapacho (es) m, caparazón (es) m
• Thai: กระดอง (th) (grà-dɔɔng)
• Tongan: ʻuno (of turtles)
• Turkish: kabuk (tr)
• Welsh: argragen f

See also

• exoskeleton (often holonymous)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish carapacho (“carapace, shell”), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ʁa.pas/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

carapace f (plural carapaces)

1. shell

Descendants

• → English: carapace
• → English: calipash
• → Italian: carapace
• → Portuguese: carapaça
• → Romanian: carapace

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French carapace (“tortoise shell”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.raˈpa.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -atʃe
• Hyphenation: ca‧ra‧pà‧ce

Noun

carapace m (plural carapaci)

1. carapace

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French carapace.

Noun

carapace f (plural carapace)

1. shell (of a turtle)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	carapace	carapacea	carapace	carapacele
genitive-dative	carapace	carapacei	carapace	carapacelor
vocative	carapace, carapaceo		carapacelor