nacreous

[ ney-kree-uhs ]

adjective

1. of or relating to nacre.
2. resembling nacre; lustrous; pearly:

   a nacreous luster;

   a nacreous sky.

nacreous

/ ˈneɪkrɪəs /

adjective

1. relating to or consisting of mother-of-pearl
2. having the lustre of mother-of-pearl

   nacreous minerals

Other Words From

• sub·nacre·ous adjective
• un·nacre·ous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nacreous¹

First recorded in 1830–40; nacre + -ous

Example Sentences

Looking like a "portal to the next dimension" or possibly a spaceship, the shimmering colours of nacreous cloud were spotted.

From BBC

It had the nacreous sheen of an oyster shell.

From New York Times

The urge to reach, irritably, for the device during meals, conversations, parties and upon awakening, can partly be attributed to lust for the object and the soft, nacreous glow of the screen.

From The Guardian

The undersides held a stickier yellow glow, and here and there a gleaming edge was picked out in nacreous brown, and the occasional filigree lacework that blossomed around a ruptured skin.

From Literature

Where the previous photo paintings relied mostly on a gray-scale palette, Ema glows with nacreous pink skin and golden hair—her body “seems to shine from within,” as one critic put it.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• frosted
• iridescent
• milky
• off-white