the.com/leathery
the texture that survives apocalypse, sunburn, and your grandmother's couch alike
means Tough, dry, and pliable in the way leather is — used of skin, food, or anything that's gone hard and resilient with age or weathering.
from From 'leather' plus the adjective ending '-y,' meaning 'resembling leather.' 'Leather' itself is an old Germanic word — Old English 'leþer,' with cousins across the Germanic languages (Old Norse 'leðr,' Old High German 'ledar') — all tracing back to a shared root for the tanned, toughened hide of an animal. The '-y' suffix simply turns the substance into a quality, the same way 'silk' becomes 'silky.'
- sun's signature
- UV breaks down collagen, leaving skin tough and creased
- tortoise badge
- Galápagos giants wear it for over a century
- word roots
- leather comes from Old English 'lether,' meaning hide
- culinary warning
- describes overcooked steak nobody wants to chew
- survival trait
- desert plants go leathery to hoard scarce water
sea turtle skin — leatherback turtles have thick, leathery skin instead of a hard shell, diving to 4,000+ feet
dried fruit leather — fruit roll-ups and fruit leather snacks made by drying pureed fruit into thin sheets
elephant skin — african elephants have thick, wrinkled leathery skin up to 1 inch thick for sun and insect protection