Word.ws English Dictionary

tortoiseshell

/ˈtɔː(ɹ)təˌʃɛl/

tortoiseshell noun: the horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer etc.

tortoiseshell: the horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer...
Image: Darkone, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

tortoiseshell (usually uncountable, plural tortoiseshells)

  1. (usually) The horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer etc.
  2. (usually) The hawksbill turtle.
  3. (usually) A domestic cat (or a rabbit, guinea-pig, etc.) whose fur has black, brown and yellow markings.
    Synonyms:
    tort, tortie
  4. (usually) Any of several butterflies, mostly of the genera Nymphalis and Aglais that have similar markings.
    • Other common farmland butterflies to have suffered steep declines include the small tortoiseshell (64%), the wall brown (37%) and the large skipper (35%).2015 November 24, Patrick Barkham, “Pesticide may be reason butterfly numbers are falling in UK, says study”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016

Adjective

tortoiseshell (not comparable)

  1. Made of the covering of carapace of hawksbill turtle.
  2. Having markings resembling covering of carapace of hawksbill turtle.
    • Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.2023 June 26, Lauren Caruso and Jillian Tracy, “The 22 best sunglasses for summer, according to style experts”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2025

tortoiseshell meaning in Tamil and Gujarati

tortoiseshell in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும்

tortoiseshell in Gujarati

covering of carapace of hawksbill turtle
કચકડું kacakḍũ

Examples of tortoiseshell in a sentence

  • The sight of its green seams and unveracious tortoiseshell handle disgusted Kitty into speech.
  • Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.
  • A comb made of South American tortoiseshell was found.

All 10 example sentences with tortoiseshell

Synonyms of tortoiseshell

Forms of tortoiseshell

pluraltortoiseshells

Origin of tortoiseshell

From tortoise + shell.

Words formed from tortoiseshell

Phrases with tortoiseshell

Questions about tortoiseshell

What does tortoiseshell mean?
Tortoiseshell means the horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer etc.
What is tortoiseshell in Tamil?
Tortoiseshell in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும். See Tortoiseshell meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is tortoiseshell?
Tortoiseshell can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce tortoiseshell?
Tortoiseshell is pronounced /ˈtɔː(ɹ)təˌʃɛl/.
What is the plural of tortoiseshell?
The plural of tortoiseshell is tortoiseshells.

Words near tortoiseshell in the dictionary

  1. tortoise-shell bamboo
  2. tortoise-shell bamboos
  3. tortoise-shells
  4. tortoiselike
  5. tortoises
  6. tortoiseshell
  7. tortoiseshell bracket
  8. tortoiseshell brackets
  9. tortoiseshell cat
  10. tortoiseshell cats
  11. tortoiseshells

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tortoiseshell (page history and authors); tortoiseshell (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “tortoiseshell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tortoiseshell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.