squame
/skweɪm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The scale, or exopodite, of an antenna of a crustacean.
Example Sentences
- "EGF increased proliferation and squame formation and induced keratinization in cultured MA cells, an observation heretofore not reported in rat MA cells."
- "They flatten further and become compacted into a dense keratinous layer known as the stratum corneum. The superficial flake-like squames are eventually cast off (desquamate)."
- "Squames begin life as normal cells in the lower layers of the epidermis but, as they travel towards the surface, they progressively lose all recognizable contents, becoming plates of mainly keratin protein, based on a progressive deposition of protein on the intermediate filaments of the cytoskeleton."
- "Here the invading cell masses of the cancer consist of short thick squames, and the nearest approach to cell nest formation may be only a whorling of those squames in the centres of the cell masses."
- "Second, if it is a squame, the nuclear size and chromatin pattern are determined. If the nucleus of this squame is plump and vesicular with an intact chromatin pattern, the cell is an intermediate; if it is pyknotic, shrunken, and hyperchromatic and lacks chromatin pattern, the cell is a superficial."
- "As the cells divide and the vaginal lining thickens, the cells nearest the lumen become nonviable and lose the characteristic appearance of a healthy cell monolayer. The misshapen, clumped cells are termed cornified. Specific cell types are superficial cells and anuclear squame cells (Fig. 2-2)."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: squāma
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /skweɪm/