Cilt

Cilt is a Turkish noun with two common senses. In medical and everyday language, cilt refers to the skin, the outer covering of the body in humans and animals. It is used in phrases such as cilt sağlığı (skin health) and cilt hastalıkları (skin diseases). In dermatology and popular usage, cilt denotes the tissue that forms the epidermis and dermis, distinguishing it from related terms such as deri, which can refer to leather or, in some contexts, to skin in a broader sense.

The second major sense of cilt is as a unit of a published work: a volume of a book in a multi-volume edition. In publishing and libraries, cilt denotes one bound part of a series, as in Bu eser üç cilt halinde basılmıştır (This work was published in three volumes). The plural form ciltler is used when referring to multiple volumes.

Usage notes and nuances. The word appears frequently in medical and consumer health discourse as well as in literary and bibliographic contexts. In everyday Turkish, cilt can often be understood from context, but the distinction from deri (which more commonly means skin in a broader sense or leather) is important in precise language. For example, cilt kanseri means skin cancer, while simply referring to leather or hides would more typically use deri.

In summary, cilt can denote the skin as a bodily organ or the volume of a publication, with the intended meaning usually clarified by context.