As it grows, the _____ slides across the nail bed.

• A. Nail bed
• B. Nail root
• C. Nail plate
• D. Lunula

Answer: (C)

The nail plate is the hard, visible part that slides across the nail bed as it grows. Growth starts in the nail matrix at the base, where new keratinized cells form and push the plate forward. The nail bed is the skin underneath the plate, supplying nutrients and providing a surface it moves over. The nail root is the portion hidden under the skin at the base where growth begins, and the lunula is the pale crescent at the base that marks part of the matrix, not the moving plate. So the plate is the part that slides across the nail bed as it grows.