squama

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin squāma (“scale”). Doublet of squame.

Noun

squama (plural squamae or squamas)

1. (medicine) A scale cast off from the skin; a thin dry shred of epithelium.
2. (botany) The bract of a deciduous spike.
3. (botany) Any scaly bracted leaf.
4. (entomology) A calypter.

Derived terms

• squamation

Related terms

• squamous

Further reading

• “squama”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “squama”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskwa.ma/
• Rhymes: -ama
• Hyphenation: squà‧ma

Etymology 1

From Latin squāma.

Noun

squama f (plural squame)

1. (zoology) scale (keratin piece covering the skin of reptiles and fishes)

   Synonym: scaglia

2. (anatomy) squama

Derived terms

• squamare
• squamoso

Etymology 2

Inflected form of the verb squamare.

Verb

squama

1. inflection of squamare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Etymology

Probably related to squālus (“filthy, foul”) or possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈskʷaː.ma/, [ˈs̠kʷäːmä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈskwa.ma/, [ˈskwäːmä]

Noun

squāma f (genitive squāmae); first declension

1. scale (of a fish or reptile)
2. (by extension) flake; any item shaped like a scale

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	squāma	squāmae
Genitive	squāmae	squāmārum
Dative	squāmae	squāmīs
Accusative	squāmam	squāmās
Ablative	squāmā	squāmīs
Vocative	squāma	squāmae

Derived terms

• squāmātus
• squāmeus
• squāmifer / squāmiger
• squāmōsus
• squāmula

Descendants

• Aromanian: scamã
• Asturian: escama
• Catalan: escama, esquama
• English: squama, squame
• French: squame
• Galician: escama
• Italian: squama
• Occitan: escauma
• Old French: eschame
• Portuguese: escama
• Romanian: scamă, scvamă
• Sicilian: scama
• Spanish: escama
• Venetian: sčiàma

References

• “squama”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “squama”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• squama in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.