mother-of-pearl

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• /ˌmʌðəɹ əv ˈpɜː(ɹ)l/
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Calque of Latin māter perlārum, with the first element perhaps connected in popular imagination with obsolete mother (“dregs”). Possibly referring to the fact that the nacre-lined shells are the belly (“mother”) in which pearls are produced.

99 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Abkhaz: амыркылд (amərkʼəld) — pearly layer
• Albanian: sedef — pearly layer
• Southern Altai: тана (tana) — pearly layer
• Arabic: عِرْق اللُّؤْلُؤ (ʕirq al-luʔluʔ) — pearly layer
• Arabic: زِلْف (zilf) — pearly layer
• Arabic: زَلَف (zalaf) — pearly layer
• Arabic: صَدَف (ṣadaf) — pearly layer
• Arabic: أُمّ اللَّآلِئ (ʔumm al-laʔāliʔ) — pearly layer
• Armenian: սադափ (sadapʻ) — pearly layer
• Azerbaijani: sədəf — pearly layer
• Bashkir: мәрүәт (mərwət) — pearly layer
• Belarusian: перламу́тр (pjerlamútr) — pearly layer
• Belarusian: пэрляму́тар (perljamútar) — pearly layer
• Bengali: মৌক্তিক (mōuktik) — pearly layer
• Bulgarian: седе́ф (sedéf) — pearly layer
• Burmese: မုတ်ခွံ (muthkwam) — pearly layer
• Burmese: ကနုကမာ (ka.nu.ka.ma) — pearly layer
• Buryat: эржэн (eržen) — pearly layer
• Buryat: тана (tana) — pearly layer
• Catalan: mareperla — pearly layer
• Chinese Mandarin: 珍珠母 (zhēnzhūmǔ) — pearly layer
• Chinese Mandarin: 珧 (yáo) — pearly layer
• Czech: perleť — pearly layer
• Danish: perlemor — pearly layer
• Dutch: parelmoer — pearly layer
• Estonian: pärlmutter — pearly layer
• Finnish: helmiäinen — pearly layer
• French: nacre — pearly layer
• Friulian: mariperle — pearly layer
• Georgian: სადაფი (sadapi) — pearly layer
• Georgian: პერლამუტრი (ṗerlamuṭri) — pearly layer
• German: Perlmutt — pearly layer
• German: Perlmutter — pearly layer
• Greek: φίλντισι (fílntisi) — pearly layer
• Ancient Greek: πινάριον (pinárion) — pearly layer
• Hebrew: דַּר (dar) — pearly layer
• Hindi: सदफ़ (sadaf) — pearly layer
• Hindi: सदफ (sadaph) — pearly layer
• Hungarian: gyöngyház — pearly layer
• Icelandic: perlumóðir — pearly layer
• Indonesian: indung mutiara — pearly layer
• Indonesian: giwang — pearly layer
• Irish: néamhann — pearly layer
• Italian: madreperla — pearly layer
• Japanese: 真珠層 (shinjusō) — pearly layer
• Japanese: 真珠母 (shinjubo) — pearly layer
• Kalmyk: тан (tan) — pearly layer
• Kazakh: седеп (sedep) — pearly layer
• Kazakh: тана (tana) — pearly layer
• Korean: 진주층 (jinjucheung) — pearly layer
• Korean: 진주모 (jinjumo) — pearly layer
• Northern Kurdish: sedef — pearly layer
• Kyrgyz: седеп (sedep) — pearly layer
• Latvian: perlamutrs — pearly layer
• Lithuanian: perlamutras — pearly layer
• Macedonian: седеф (sedef) — pearly layer
• Maranao: lageng — pearly layer
• Mongolian: тана (tana) — pearly layer
• Navajo: diichiłí — pearly layer
• Norwegian Bokmål: perlemor — pearly layer
• Norwegian Bokmål: kjerne — pearly layer
• Norwegian Nynorsk: perlemor — pearly layer
• Pashto: صدف (sadáf) — pearly layer
• Iranian Persian: صَدَف (sadaf) — pearly layer
• Polish: masa perłowa — pearly layer
• Polish: macica perłowa — pearly layer
• Portuguese: madrepérola — pearly layer
• Portuguese: nácar — pearly layer
• Romanian: sidef — pearly layer
• Russian: перламу́тр (perlamútr) — pearly layer
• Serbo-Croatian: сѐдеф — pearly layer
• Serbo-Croatian: sèdef — pearly layer
• Slovak: perleť — pearly layer
• Slovene: sedef — pearly layer
• Spanish: nácar — pearly layer
• Spanish: madreperla — pearly layer
• Swedish: pärlemor — pearly layer
• Tagalog: nakar — pearly layer
• Tagalog: inamperlas — pearly layer
• Tagalog: binga — pearly layer
• Tajik: садаф (sadaf) — pearly layer
• Tatar: перламутр (perlamutr) — pearly layer
• Tatar: сәдәф (sädäf) — pearly layer
• Telugu: ముత్యపుచిప్ప (mutyapucippa) — pearly layer
• Turkish: sedef — pearly layer
• Ottoman Turkish: صدف (sedef) — pearly layer
• Turkmen: sadap — pearly layer
• Ukrainian: перламу́тр (perlamútr) — pearly layer
• Urdu: صَدَف (sadaf) — pearly layer
• Uyghur: سەدەپ (sedep) — pearly layer
• Uzbek: sadaf — pearly layer
• Vietnamese: xà cừ — pearly layer
• Welsh: cregynnem — pearly layer
• Welsh: mam y perl — pearly layer
• Welsh: nacr — pearly layer
• Yakan: tipey — pearly layer
• Yiddish: פּערל־מוטער (perl-muter) — pearly layer
• Finnish: satraappi — butterfly of genus Salamis
• Welsh: perlog — butterfly of species Patania ruralis