cuticle
1 synonym for cuticle, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The strip of toughened skin at the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
How to use cuticle
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
push back your cuticles
cuticle oil
dry cuticles
trim the cuticle
The nail sense is everyday language, while the skin-layer sense is more technical and used in biology or dermatology.
Etymology
Cuticle is a learned borrowing from the Latin cutīcula, meaning a small skin or cuticle, itself a diminutive form related to skin.
Full origin of cuticle →Frequently asked questions
Should you cut your cuticles?
Most nail care guidance favours gently pushing them back rather than cutting, since cutting can leave the nail bed open to infection.
Is the cuticle the same as the nail itself?
No, the cuticle is the strip of skin at the nail's base and sides, while the nail is the hard plate that grows from underneath it.
What does cuticle mean outside of nail care?
More broadly in biology, it refers to the outermost layer of skin, as in the cuticle of the skin generally.
