keratin

«keratin» in Mova's school dictionary: a tough protein that makes up hair, nails, claws, horns… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (keratin — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

Keratin is a tough protein that makes up hair, nails, claws, horns, hooves, feathers and the outer layer of skin. tree →

sense in the lessons

A science word in lessons about the body and animals: your hair and fingernails are made of keratin, and so are a rhino's horn and a bird's feathers. It explains why cutting hair and nails does not hurt — they are made of dead keratin cells. Phrases: made of keratin, keratin protein.

examples

• Your fingernails are made of keratin. tree →
• A rhino's horn is made of keratin, just like hair. tree →
• Feathers, claws and hooves all contain keratin. tree →
• Cutting your hair doesn't hurt because it is dead keratin. tree →
• Some shampoos say they contain keratin. tree →
• The outer layer of our skin is tough because of keratin. tree →

note

Uncountable. Say: KERR-a-tin. Myth: a rhino horn is not made of bone or ivory, and it has no magic medicine power — it is keratin like our nails, which is why poaching rhinos is so pointless and cruel.

In the corpora

• Instead, a curtain of baleen plates hangs from the upper jaw, made of keratin, the same stuff as your fingernails.
• Horns are different: a cow or goat keeps its horns for life, a bone core inside a cover of keratin.
• Pangolins are among the most smuggled mammals, killed for scales that are only keratin and cure nothing.
• Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same stuff as hair and nails, so they rot away and rarely become fossils.
• Feathers are made of keratin, the same stuff as our hair and nails.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «keratin» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.