Spanish Conversation · Level 34
75 words
Spanish word
escama
Pronunciation
IPA/esˈkama/
Meaning
- feminine nounscale
Example
Ella quitó las escamas del pescado antes de cocinarlo.
She removed the scales from the fish before cooking it.
More examples
El lagarto tenía las escamas secas después del invierno.
The lizard's scales were dry after the winter.
Core concept
One of the small overlapping plates that cover an animal's skin.
Common phrases
quitar las escamas
remove the scales
las escamas del pescado
the fish's scales
Similar words
piel: Soft outer tissue covering an animal's body and protecting the internal organs.
cáscara: Relatively hard outer skin on a fruit that encloses the flesh and is usually peeled away.
corteza: Hard protective outer layer of a tree trunk and branches that shields the living wood.
caparazón: Hard external shell that covers and protects animals such as turtles and crabs.
Definition in Spanish
Cada una de las pequeñas placas que se superponen y cubren la piel o la superficie externa de ciertos animales, protegiéndolos.
Word origin
From Latin squama, Spanish escama forms by adding an initial e before an s+consonant cluster and preserves the meaning 'scale'.
Usage tips
- In recipes and fish handling escama usually appears in the plural and commonly occurs with verbs meaning 'to remove' such as quitar or raspar.
Other meanings
- flakenoun
Related words
- escamososcalyadjective
- escamadoscaledadjective