derma

¹

[dur-muh]

noun

1. Anatomy, Zoology.,  dermis.

derma

²

[dur-muh]

noun

1. beef or fowl intestine used as a casing in preparing certain savory dishes, especially kishke.

2. kishke.

-derma

³

1. a combining form of derma, used especially in the names of disorders of the skin.

   scleroderma; xeroderma.

derma

¹

/ ˈdɜːmə /

noun

1. Also: derm. another name for corium

derma

²

/ ˈdɜːmə /

noun

1. beef or fowl intestine used as a casing for certain dishes, esp kishke

Word History and Origins

Origin of derma¹

1825–35; New Latin < Greek dérma skin, equivalent to dér ( ein ) to skin + -ma noun suffix

Origin of derma²

< Yiddish derme, plural of darm intestine < Middle High German; akin to Old English thearm gut

Word History and Origins

Origin of derma¹

C18: New Latin, from Greek: skin, from derein to skin

Origin of derma²

from Yiddish derme, plural of darm intestine, from Old High German daram; related to Old English thearm gut, Old Norse tharmr

Example Sentences

Owner Hiroyuki Asanuma is a dermatologist in Hokkaido who uses the word derma as the first part of all his horses’ names.

From Washington Times

Onion rolls slathered with butter, herring in thick cream sauce, brisket of beef with a side of stuffed derma, and other staples of our family cuisine disappeared from our table.

From The New Yorker

The word taxidermy derives from the Greek words “taxis,” meaning arrangement, and “derma,” meaning skin.

From Washington Times

So you wind up scrubbing that sort of derma blah blah more than you normally would.

From New York Times

At others, the suppurative inflammation may be seen to have eroded the derma, which is covered with a diphtheritic membranous exudation similar to that covering the mucous membranes lining the mouth, nose, and ears.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bark 
• coating 
• crust 
• fur 
• husk 
• jacket 
• membrane 
• rind 
• sheath 
• surface 

When To Use

What does -derma mean?

The combining form -derma is used like a suffix representing the derma. The derma, also known as the dermis, is the dense inner layer of skin beneath the epidermis, which is the outermost (and thinner) part of the skin that we can see.The form -derma is specifically used to name skin disorders and is used in many medical terms, especially in pathology. It ultimately comes from the Greek dérma, meaning “skin.”As you may have already guessed, the Greek dérma is the source of the word derma itself. The word derma is sometimes used like a prefix or directly combined with other word forms, as in dermatherm and dermatome.The combining form -derma is closely related to other combining forms dealing with various senses of “skin,” including -derm, -dermatous, -dermis, dermato-, dermat-, dermo-, and derm-.Other variants of dermat- and dermato- are dermo- and derm-. Closely related to dermato- are the combining forms -derm, -derma, -dermatous, and -dermis. Learn more about their specific applications at our Words That Use articles for the forms.