Definition of "lunula" [‖Lu•nu•la]

• A small crescent-shaped structure or marking, especially the white area at the base of a fingernail that resembles a half-moon. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Near the root of the nail, the papillæ are smaller, less vascular, and have no regular arrangement, and here the tissue of the nail is not firmly adherent to the connective-tissue stratum but only in contact with it; hence this portion is of a whiter color, and is called the lunula on account of its shape."
• "Instead, the safe held cosmetics and an envelope with a Bronze Age gold necklace in the shape of a crescent moon known as a lunula and two gold discs."
• "The whitish crescent moon at the nail base, under the nail plate, is called the lunula, and the tissue overlapping the nail at the base is the cuticle."