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Added 9 October 2026

shell

/ʃɛl/ noun

Categories: ThingsNatureEveryday Words

In Latin: putāmen Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shell at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A hard external covering of an animal. The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
    In some mollusks, as the cuttlefish, the shell is concealed by the animal's outer mantle and is considered internal.
  2. The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
    In some mollusks, as the cuttlefish, the shell is concealed by the animal's outer mantle and is considered internal.
  3. Any mollusk having such a covering.

verb

  1. To remove the outer covering or shell of something.
  2. To bombard, to fire projectiles at, especially with artillery.
    The guns shelled the enemy trenches.
  3. To disburse or give up money, to pay. (Often used with out).

Origin

From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċel, sċell, sċiell, sċil, sċill, sċyl, sċyll, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō (“shell; husk; rind; peel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: carapacepodeggshellplateblastcasingscalestrafecasescallopcrustacean

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