cowrie

cowrie

English

a cowrie (Monetaria moneta)

cowrie shells

a cowrie

Alternative forms

• cowry, kauri

Etymology

Mid-17th century, borrowed from Hindi कौड़ी (kauṛī).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊ.ɹi/
• Rhymes: -aʊɹi

Noun

cowrie (plural cowries)

1. A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
2. (by extension, dated) Any gastropod of the genus Cypraea; its shell.
3. (by extension) Any gastropod of the family Cypraeidae; its shell.

Synonyms

• (Monetaria moneta): money cowrie
• (shell of M. moneta): shell money, wampum

Derived terms

• bean cowrie (Trivia merces)
• kernel cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)
• measled cowrie (Macrocypaea zebra)
• money cowrie (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta)
• nucleus cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)
• panther cowrie (Cypraea pantherina)
• ring cowrie (Monetaria annulus, syn. Cypraea annulus)
• tiger cowrie (Cypraea tigris)
• turtle cowrie (Chelycypraea testudinaria, syn. Cypraea testudinaria)
• wrinkled cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)

Translations

C. moneta

Bikol Central: buskay (bcl) Dutch: geldkauri Finnish: kaurikotilo (fi) French: cauri (fr) m Hindi: कौड़ी f (kauṛī) Nepali: कौडी (ne) (kauḍī) Romanian: ghioc (ro)

any member of the genus Cypraea

Arabic: ودع‎ (ar) Bengali: কড়ি (bn) (kôṛi) Bikol Central: buskay (bcl) Catalan: cauri m Chinese: Mandarin: 寶貝／宝贝 (zh) (bǎobèi) Czech: kauri Dutch: kauri (nl) Erzya: ёлдарав (joldarav) Finnish: posliinikotilo French: cauri (fr) m, porcelaine (fr) f German: Kaurischnecke f, Kaurimuschel (de) f, Kauri (de) m or f Hindi: कौड़ी f (kauṛī) Irish: fínicín m Italian: ciprea f Japanese: タカラガイ (takaragai), 宝貝 (takaragai) Kannada: ಕವಡೆ (kn) (kavaḍe) Norwegian: kauriskjell Nynorsk: kauri Oriya: କଉଡ଼ି (or) (kôuṛi) Polish: kauri (pl) Portuguese: búzio (pt) m Punjabi: ਕੌਡੀ (kauḍī) Romanian: dioc Russian: ка́ури (ru) m or n (káuri) Spanish: cauri m Swahili: kauri Swedish: kaurisnäckor Tamil: சோகி (ta) (cōki) Waray-Waray: buskay

References

• cowrie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cypraeidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “cowrie | cowry, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893.

Anagrams

• cowier