cowrie

Plural: cowries

Noun

• A glossy, often brightly patterned, marine gastropod shell.
• any of numerous tropical marine gastropods of the genus Cypraea having highly polished usually brightly marked shells
• A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
• Any gastropod of the genus Cypraea; its shell.
• Any gastropod of the family Cypraeidae; its shell.

Examples

• He unearthed ’COWRIE’ from his tiles, a small but beautiful find in Words With Friends.

Synonyms

cowry, money cowrie, shell money, wampum