mussel

See also: Mussel

English

Cooked mussels (Mytilus edulis)

Mussels in beer broth at a restaurant in Singapore

Etymology

From Middle English muscle (“mussel”), from Old English muscle, from Late Latin muscula, from Latin mūsculus (“mussel or muscle”, literally “little mouse”). Doublet of muscle.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌsəl/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌsəl
Homophone: muscle

Noun

mussel (plural mussels)

Any of several groups of bivalve shellfish with elongated, asymmetrical shells.
1. A freshwater mussel, usually edible, of the order Unionida in subclass Palaeoheterodonta.
2. A saltwater mussel, usually edible, of the order Mytilida in subclass Pteriomorphia.
3. Any of certain other bivalves of somewhat similar appearance, such as the zebra mussel and quagga mussel of the family Dreissenidae in subclass Heterodonta.

Derived terms

Australian mussel
bay mussel
bearded mussel
blue mussel
California mussel
Chilean mussel
common mussel
date mussel
duck mussel
foolish mussel
horse mussel
Korean mussel
Mediterranean mussel
Musselburgh
Musselshell (River, County, CDP)
quagga mussel
swan mussel
zebra mussel

Related terms

mouse

Translations

any small edible bivalve shellfish — See also translations at clam,‎ oyster,‎ mollusc

Abenaki: als
Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
Afrikaans: mossel
Arabic: بَلَحُ الْبَحْر‎ m (balaḥu l-baḥr)
Hijazi Arabic: بَلَح البَحَر‎ m (balaḥ al-baḥar)
Moroccan Arabic: بو زْروڭ‎ m (bu zrug)
Armenian: միդիա (midia)
Azerbaijani: midye
Basque: muskuilua
Belarusian: мі́дыя f (mídyja)
Brunei Malay: kupang
Bulgarian: мида (bg) f (mida)
Catalan: musclo (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 青口 (ceng¹ hau²)
Mandarin: 淡菜 (zh) (dàncài), 殼菜／壳菜 (zh) (qiàocài), 貽貝／贻贝 (zh) (yíbèi), 青口 (zh) (qīngkǒu)
Czech: slávka (cs) f
Danish: musling (da) c
Dutch: mossel (nl) f
Esperanto: mitulo
Estonian: jõekarp
Ewe: aɖɔɖi n
Faroese: kræklingur m
Finnish: simpukka (fi)
French: moule (fr) f
Galician: mexillón (gl) m
Georgian: ორკარედი ნიჟარა (orḳaredi nižara)
German: Muschel (de) f, Miesmuschel (de) f
Greek: μύδι (el) n (mýdi)
Ancient: κόγχη f (kónkhē)
Greenlandic: uiloq
Hebrew: מוּל‎ (he) m (mul)
Hungarian: szívkagyló (hu), kagyló (hu)
Icelandic: kræklingur (is) m, bláskel f
Irish: diúilicín m
Italian: cozza (it) f, mitilo (it) m, muscolo (it) m, peocio m, dattero nero m, poverazza f
Japanese: 貽貝 (ja) (イガイ, igai), ムール貝 (mūru-gai)
Khmer: គ្រំចំពុះទា (krum chɑmpuh tie), គ្រំប៉ោក (krum paok)
Korean: 조개 (ko) (jogae), 홍합 (ko) (honghap)
Latin: spondylus m
Macedonian: мушула (mk) f (mušula), школка f (školka)
Malay: kupang (ms)
Maori: kūtai
Middle English: muscle
Navajo: chʼosh dichiłí bitsʼaʼígíí
Norman: moûle f, bé d'corbîn m
Norwegian: blåskjell
Old English: muscle f
Persian: صدف سیاه‎ (sadaf e siyāh)
Polish: małż (pl) m, omułek (pl) m
Portuguese: mexilhão (pt) m
Romanian: midie (ro) f
Russian: ми́дия (ru) f (mídija)
Serbo-Croatian:
Roman: školjka (sh) f, jestiva školjka f, dagnja (sh) f
Slovak: mušľa f
Slovene: dagnja f
Southern Ohlone: hakkaw
Spanish: mejillón (es) m, choro (es)
Swedish: mussla (sv) c
Tagalog: halaan
Thai: หอยสองฝา (hŏi sŏng făa)
Turkish: midye (tr)
Ukrainian: мі́дія f (mídija)
Vietnamese: trai (vi)
Walloon: mosse (wa) f, moule (wa) f, moulete (wa) f
Welsh: cragen las f (North Welsh), cragen ddu f, misglen (cy) f (South Welsh)
West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can
Wolof: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
Yámana: kačóin
Zazaki: please add this translation if you can
Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
Zulu: please add this translation if you can

freshwater mussel

Finnish: järvisimpukka (fi), makeanveden simpukka
French: please add this translation if you can
Maori: kākahi

saltwater mussel

Bulgarian: черна мида f (černa mida)
Catalan: musclo (ca) m
Finnish: merisimpukka
French: please add this translation if you can
Galician: mexillón (gl) m
Russian: мидия (ru) f (midija)

References

mussel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia