Manicure terms, plainly explained

Most of the confusion around nail care comes from one word doing several jobs. Cuticle in everyday speech means the strip of skin you push back or trim; in anatomy it means something narrower. Getting the parts straight matters practically, because the tissue people cut most confidently is the one that should be left alone.

Working from the base of the nail outward:

• The lunula is the pale half-moon near the base — the visible part of the nail matrix, where the plate is made.
• The eponychium is the living fold of skin at the base. This is the part to leave alone. It seals the gap between skin and nail, and cutting it opens that seal.
• The cuticle proper is the thin layer of dead tissue the eponychium sheds onto the plate as it grows. This is what gets pushed back and removed — and it is not the same thing as the fold it came from.
• Pterygium is that layer when it grows abnormally and adheres to the plate.
• The nail plate is the hard part itself, sitting in the nail fold on either side.
• The hyponychium is the skin under the leading edge, where the plate lifts away from the finger.
• The free edge is the part past that — the bit you actually cut.

Two problems have their own entries because they are what people search for: hangnails, which are splits in the skin beside the nail rather than in the nail, and ingrown nails, where the plate grows into the fold instead of over it.

Which instrument suits which job is a separate question — the glossary of steel and sharpening covers what the tools are made of, and nippers, scissors or clippers covers what each one is for.