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# tortoiseshell

«tortoiseshell» in Mova's school dictionary: **the hard, brown-and-yellow mottled shell material that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (tortoiseshell — uncountable; a tortoiseshell, tortoiseshells); adjective (tortoiseshell)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Tortoiseshell is the hard, brown-and-yellow mottled shell material that comes from the hawksbill sea turtle (not from tortoises), once used for combs, glasses frames and jewellery; trading it is now banned to protect the turtles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#m1)

2) Tortoiseshell also means a pattern or plastic copying that mottled brown and amber look: tortoiseshell glasses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#m2)

3) A tortoiseshell is a cat with a coat patterned in black and orange (ginger) patches; almost all of them are female. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#m3)

4) A tortoiseshell is also a butterfly, the small tortoiseshell, with orange, black and yellow wings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science and citizenship lessons it comes up with endangered animals and the CITES ban on trading hawksbill shell. In nature lessons the small tortoiseshell butterfly is a common British garden butterfly. In everyday life, "tortie" cats and tortoiseshell-style glasses. Phrases: "tortoiseshell cat", "tortoiseshell frames", "small tortoiseshell".

### examples

- My cat is a tortoiseshell with black and ginger patches. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x1)
- Almost all tortoiseshell cats are female. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x2)
- Dad's glasses have tortoiseshell frames, but they are plastic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x3)
- Real tortoiseshell came from hawksbill turtles, which are now endangered. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x4)
- A small tortoiseshell butterfly landed on the buddleia. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x5)
- The old hairbrush in the museum was made of tortoiseshell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x6)
- Selling real tortoiseshell is banned in most countries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x7)
- Next came the water-rats, dressed as pages, and lastly the frog herself, in a litter borne by eight toads, and made of tortoiseshell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/#x8)

### note

One word. Despite the name, it comes from sea turtles, not land tortoises. Informal name for the cat: "tortie". The cat being nearly always female is due to genes on the X chromosome.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tortoiseshell» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoiseshell/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.