scute

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scutum (“shield”). Compare scutum, escudo, scudo, and écu.

noun

1. (zoology) A horny, chitinous, or bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle or the skin of crocodiles.
   Then one afternoon, as he's stripping the scutes and hide from a shortnose sturgeon, an idea hits him. 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 71
2. (genetics) A proneural gene, often associated with achaete, that is required for the formation of many larval and adult sense organs
3. (obsolete) A small shield.
   yet they ouer ſhoote us With crownes and with ſcutus With Scutes and crownes a. 1529, John Skelton, Why come ye not to Court
4. (historical) An old French gold coin.