Sealskin

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsilˌskɪn/

Definitions

1. A material made from the fur or hide of a seal, used historically for clothing, waterproof garments, and decorative purposes
2. A fabric derived from the fur or skin of seals that has been utilized for apparel, water-resistant clothing, and ornamental items
3. This textile originating from seals' fur has been historically employed in making garments, protective wear, and decorative crafts

Etymology: Sealskin is about as transparent as compounds get: it simply joins "seal", the marine mammal, with "skin", the hide that covers it. The surprise lies in the first half. "Seal" the animal and "seal" the stamp or fastening are unrelated words that happen to share a spelling, so a reader might wonder whether a sealskin was once a document-stamping material. It was not; the sense here belongs to the animal, the word itself is an ordinary English compound, and nothing in its history involves a stamp, a wax seal, or any other meaning of the word. The noun is also a plain example of how English builds descriptive names from existing parts. Once the animal's name was established, "skin" could be attached to name the hide of that particular animal, in the same way as "calfskin" or "doeskin." The compound is therefore a straightforward naming of a material by its source.

Synonyms: fur, pelage, hide, pelt, skin