Manicure terms, plainly explained

The thin band of dead tissue that the nail carries out from under the skin fold. It is the part that can be removed — unlike the living fold behind it.

The living fold of skin at the base of the nail. It seals the gap between nail and finger, which is why it is the one part that should not be cut.

The part of the nail that has grown past the fingertip and is no longer attached to the bed — the only part that is actually being cut or filed.

A strip of skin, not nail, that has torn away beside the nail. Cut it flush — pulling it takes living tissue with it.

The skin sealing the underside of the nail where the free edge lifts away. Sensitive, easily injured, and the reason short nails can feel tender.

A nail edge pressing into the skin fold beside it. Most often started by cutting the corner down — and made worse by cutting it again.

The pale half-moon at the base of the nail — the visible front edge of the matrix, where the nail is still forming and still soft.

The rims of skin framing the nail on three sides. They hold the plate in place and, along the sides, are where most manicure injuries happen.

The nail itself: layered keratin, formed in the matrix, sliding forward over the bed. Everything else in a manicure is either under it or around it.

Skin that has grown forward and attached to the nail plate itself. Not the same as an overgrown cuticle, and not something to scrape away by force.