epidermis

Everyday

1. (science) The thin outer layer of the skin that you can see and touch; it protects the body from germs, water and sunlight. tree →
2. (plants) The outer layer of cells on a leaf, stem or root. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons on the body: the epidermis is on top of the dermis; it is constantly making new cells and shedding old dead ones as dust. In plant lessons, students look at leaf epidermis under a microscope to see the tiny holes (stomata). Sunburn damages the epidermis.

Examples

• The epidermis is the outer layer of your skin. tree →
• Dead cells from the epidermis flake off every day. tree →
• Sunburn damages the epidermis. tree →
• We peeled a thin layer of onion epidermis to look at under the microscope. tree →
• The epidermis has no blood vessels, so a tiny scrape may not bleed. tree →
• A plant's epidermis is covered in a waxy layer. tree →

Note

Uncountable. «Epi-» means «on top of» + «dermis» (skin). Said «ep-ih-DER-mis».