Are escama and copo the same?
Or do they have slight differences? Is escama only for like, piel, animal skin, skin flakes, and copo for any flake that is not skin, snowflake, flake of paint (I seem to remember that as something else, des....desprendidos? I think desprendidos de pintura, does that sound right? Gracias.)
Gracias
1 Answer
To me "copo" means exclusively "snow flake", or maybe shaved ice - but I don't know of any other use for that word The DRAE's definition appears to support my impression in that respect.
Escama is scale, as in fish or dragon scales. Could be used for paint too, I guess. Then there's hojuelas, which is the sort of flakes like corn flakes.
When paint flakes off,you say "se desconcha", "se descama" or "se descascara".
When you're removing the scales of a fish, you use "descamar".
In any event, "copo" and "escama" are categorically not the same thing.
Dandruff flakes: hojuelas ó escamas de caspa.
