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Glite Dictionary
fish scale

fish scale

2 1.1
A small flat piece on a fish's body that protects its skin
  • noun
  • /fɪʃ skeɪl/
translation icon : escama de pescado
  • I found tiny fish scales on the beach after a storm had washed away the fish.
  • fish scales glittered
  • silver fish scales
  • looked like fish scales

Examples

  • They have fish scales on them that contract on their skin and stick fast.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In a pool, there was a clump of oyster shells with their deep silver interiors like fish scales or mother-of-pearl brooches.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Are these fried fish scales?

    Erzulie (2022)

  • Subal smells of fish scales and blood, an old, dead smell.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Less attractive were the hands crusted with fish scales and the frequently bad teeth.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I glimpsed its head, dazzling blue with fish scales in the pure sun.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Behind the queen came more horned men, their mail glittering like fish scales in the moonlight.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Their bodies, covered in fish scales and sheathed in acanthus leaves, nod symbolically to the ancient Mediterranean world.

    Academic text (2013)

  • By the late eighteenth century, dried iridescent fish scales were also being used to embellish the garments of the aristocracy.

    Academic text (1996)

  • All year she painted, crocheted, sewed, and made tiny, glittery Christmas and hair ornaments from fish scales, painting in the right season to look like poinsettias.

    Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

scale
vsfish scale
28 3.5

A small thin piece of skin that can come off

is the same kind of plate but only on a particular aquatic animal's body

Surface Forms

fish scale singular
fish scales plural

Morphology

fish + scale

The meaning 'a small, thin plate forming part of a fish's covering' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'fish' (the animal) with 'scale' (a thin plate), i.e. a scale that belongs to a fish. This noun–noun compositional pattern (type/member or part-of relationship) is common and cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Fish scale is a small, thin, flat plate on a fish's body. Imagine tiny roof tiles or shiny coins that overlap to protect the fish; each scale can catch the light, so the phrase means 'a small protective, shiny plate on a fish'.