cowrie

Examples

• All

• During the market days, cowrie shells served as a medium of exchange for small goods and services.

• The necklace she wore was adorned with beautiful cowrie shells that shimmered in the sunlight.

• Can you count the colonial moment when the cowrie shell ceased to be money?

  Academic text (1996)

• The colonial government's effort to remove cowrie shells from circulation left people with no currency to make small purchases.

  Academic text (2006)

• Certainly there were types of money in use that weren't coined consisting of other kinds of commodities, like cowry shells, for example.

• In ancient trade, cowrie shells were often used as currency in various cultures around the world.

Synonyms

C

cowry

vscowrie

1 9.1

A small shiny sea shell from tropical seas often used as money or jewelry

is the same meaning but in an alternate common form

C

Cypraea

vscowrie

• Specialized

9.9

A group of sea snails with shiny, brightly patterned shells

is the common everyday term rather than the taxonomic name

Compounds

M

money cowrie

• Archaic

9.9

A small sea shell that people used as money in parts of the southern Pacific and Africa

T

tiger cowrie

• UK

9.9

A large tropical sea snail with a shiny oval shell marked with dark spots often used in jewelry

Surface Forms

Etymology