carapace

English

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

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹ.əˌpeɪs/, /ˈkæ.ɹəˌpeɪs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

carapace (plural carapaces)

2. A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
3. in figurative use
   • 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.

Related terms

• carapaced
• carapaceous
• carapacial

Translations

hard protective covering

• Afrikaans: rugdop, rugskild
• Bulgarian: черупка (bg) f (čerupka)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: štít (cs) 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)
• Icelandic: 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)
• Malay: karapas, کاراڤس‎
• 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)
• Spanish: carapacho (es) m, caparazón (es) m
• Thai: กระดอง (th) (grà-dɔɔng)

See also

• exoskeleton (often holonymous)

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (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

Declension of carapace

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(o) carapace	carapacea	(niște) carapace	carapacele
genitive/dative	(unei) carapace	carapacei	(unor) carapace	carapacelor
vocative	carapace, carapaceo		carapacelor