Standard Lemma guide

exoskeleton

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EH2 K S OW0 S K EH1 L AH0 T AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hard outer structure that provides both structure and protection to creatures such as insects and Crustacea.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A wearable robotic machine used for aided or augmented mobility.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the exterior protective or supporting structure or shell of many animals (especially invertebrates) including bony or horny parts such as nails or scales or hoofs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: body covering, skeletal system, skeleton, frame, systema skeletale

Narrower terms: plastron

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1éǵh Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h1eǵhs Proto-Hellenic *eks Ancient Greek ἐκ (ek) Ancient Greek ἔξω (éxō)der. English exo- English skeleton English exoskeleton From exo- + skeleton.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: huidskelet — hard outer structure
  • Arabic: هَيْكَل خَارِجِيّ (haykal ḵārijiyy) — hard outer structure
  • Asturian: exocadarma — hard outer structure
  • Asturian: exoesqueletu — hard outer structure
  • Breton: ezrelegenn — hard outer structure
  • Catalan: exosquelet — hard outer structure
  • Chinese Mandarin: 外骨骼 (wàigǔgé) — hard outer structure
  • Czech: exoskelet — hard outer structure
  • Esperanto: eksoskeleto — hard outer structure
  • Estonian: välisskelett — hard outer structure
  • Estonian: eksoskelett — hard outer structure
  • Finnish: ulkoinen tukiranka — hard outer structure
  • French: exosquelette — hard outer structure
  • German: Exoskelett — hard outer structure
  • Greek: εξωσκελετός (exoskeletós) — hard outer structure
  • Hungarian: (külső/viselhető/hordható) robotváz — hard outer structure
  • Hungarian: exoszkeleton — hard outer structure
  • Ido: exoskeleto — hard outer structure
  • Indonesian: rangka luar — hard outer structure
  • Indonesian: eksoskeleton — hard outer structure
  • Italian: esoscheletro — hard outer structure
  • Japanese: 外骨格 (gaikokkaku) — hard outer structure
  • Korean: 외골격 (oegolgyeok) — hard outer structure
  • Latin: exosceletus — hard outer structure
  • Lithuanian: egzoskeletas — hard outer structure
  • Māori: angawaho — hard outer structure
  • Polish: szkielet zewnętrzny — hard outer structure
  • Polish: egzoszkielet — hard outer structure
  • Portuguese: exosqueleto — hard outer structure
  • Portuguese: exoesqueleto — hard outer structure
  • Romanian: exoschelet — hard outer structure
  • Russian: экзоскеле́т (ekzoskelét) — hard outer structure
  • Serbo-Croatian: egzoskelet — hard outer structure
  • Slovak: exoskelet — hard outer structure
  • Slovene: zunanji skelet — hard outer structure
  • Slovene: eksoskelet — hard outer structure
  • Spanish: exoesqueleto — hard outer structure
  • Spanish: dermatoesqueleto — hard outer structure
  • Tagalog: kalansay-panlabas — hard outer structure
  • Turkish: dış iskelet — hard outer structure
  • Vietnamese: bộ xương ngoài — hard outer structure
  • Welsh: sgerbwd allanol — hard outer structure
  • Welsh: allsgerbwd — hard outer structure