seashell

English

Seashells from Indian Ocean (1)

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ-der.
Proto-Germanic *sīhwaną
Proto-Germanic *saiwiz
Proto-West Germanic *saiwi
Old English sǣ
Middle English see
English sea
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH-
Proto-Indo-European *skol-yeh₂
Proto-Germanic *skaljō
Proto-West Germanic *skallju
Old English sċiell
Middle English schelle
English shell
English seashell

    From sea + shell.

    Pronunciation

    • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsiˌʃɛl/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)

    Noun

    seashell (plural seashells)

    1. The empty shell of a marine mollusk.
      • 2020 February 7, AJ Willingham, “What a great week for rescue pets!”, in CNN‎[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 1 July 2021:
        Look closely at the pretty seashell print on these blouses. They’re actually formulated from mathematical equations!
      • 2024 April 21, Laura Paddison, “Can this ocean-based carbon plant help save the world? Some scientists are raising red flags”, in CNN‎[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 20 May 2026:
        Fans will pump air through the alkaline stream, which causes carbon dioxide to form solid calcium carbonate, the material from which seashells are formed, which will look like a fine sand, as well as dissolved bicarbonate.
    2. The animal living inside a seashell.
      The seashells on the beach are toxic and best avoided.
    3. A very light pink colour, like that of some seashells.
      seashell:  

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Adjective

    seashell

    1. Of a very light pink colour, like that of some seashells.

    Translations

    Verb

    seashell (third-person singular simple present seashells, present participle seashelling, simple past and past participle seashelled)

    1. (transitive) To collect seashells.

    Derived terms

    See also

    Further reading

    Anagrams

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