English

Alternative forms

• nacker (obsolete)
• naker (obsolete)

Noun

nacre ‎(plural nacres)

Nacre

1. (obsolete) A shellfish which contains mother-of-pearl. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:

     The shell-fish called a Nacre, liveth even so with the Pinnotere, which is a little creature like unto a Crabfish […].

2. A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells; mother-of-pearl. [from 17th c.]
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

     On a little table of dark perfumed wood thickly encrusted with nacre, […] was lying a note from Lord Henry, and beside it was a book bound in yellow paper, the cover slightly torn and the edges soiled.

Derived terms

• nacrous

Translations

Anagrams

• caner, Caren, crane, rance

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nakʁ/

Noun

nacre f ‎(plural nacres)

1. mother-of-pearl (the hard pearly inner layer of certain mollusk shells)

Verb

nacre

1. first-person singular present indicative of nacrer
2. third-person singular present indicative of nacrer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of nacrer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of nacrer
5. second-person singular imperative of nacrer

Anagrams

• ancre, ancré, cerna, crâne, écran, encra, rance

Middle French

Noun

nacre m (plural nacres)

1. nacre (shellfish)
   • 1608, Histoire du monde... mis en français par Antoine Dupinet, Chapter 42, page 490

     Les Nacres aussi sont de la race des poissons à escailles.