# leather and prunella

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. That which is merely superficial and does not indicate the true nature or value of a person (or thing).

## Etymology
With reference to leather and prunella (materials used for making shoes and apparel), from a passage in Alexander Pope’s 1734 poem “An Essay on Man”: “What differ more (you cry) than Crown and Cowl?” / I’ll tell you, Friend: a wise Man and a Fool. / You’ll find, if once the Monarch acts the Monk, / Or Cobler-like the Parson will be drunk, / Worth makes the Man, and want of it the Fellow, / The rest is all but Leather or Prunello.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/leather-and-prunella