Standard Lemma guide

seashell

adj · noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈsiˌʃɛl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S IY1 SH EH2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The empty shell of a marine mollusk.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The animal living inside a seashell.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The seashells on the beach are toxic and best avoided.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A very light pink colour, like that of some seashells.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To collect seashells.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

the shell of a marine organism

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: shell

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English sea Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- Proto-Indo-European *skolH-yeh2 Proto-Germanic *skaljō Proto-West Germanic *skallju Old English sċiell Middle English schelle English shell English seashell From sea + shell.

Across languages

Translations

112 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Spanish: concha de nácar — colour
  • Afrikaans: skulp — shell
  • Albanian: guaskë — shell
  • Amharic: ዛጐል (zagwäl) — shell
  • Arabic: صَدَفَة (ṣadafa) — shell
  • Arabic: صَدَفَة بَحْرِيَّة (ṣadafa baḥriyya) — shell
  • Arabic: مَحَارَة (maḥāra) — shell
  • Armenian: խեցի (xecʻi) — shell
  • Armenian: ծովախեցի (covaxecʻi) — shell
  • Azerbaijani: qabıq — shell
  • Azerbaijani: dəniz qabığı — shell
  • Bashkir: ҡабырсаҡ (qabırsaq) — shell
  • Belarusian: ра́кавіна (rákavina) — shell
  • Belarusian: раку́шка (rakúška) — shell
  • Belarusian: чарапа́х (čarapáx) — shell
  • Bulgarian: ра́ковина (rákovina) — shell
  • Catalan: conquilla — shell
  • Chamicuro: c̈hota — shell
  • Cherokee: ᎤᏯᏍᎦ (uyasga) — shell
  • Chinese Mandarin: 貝殼 /贝壳 (bèiké) — shell
  • Chinese Mandarin: 海貝 /海贝 (hǎibèi) — shell
  • Corsican: cunchiglia — shell
  • Czech: schránka — shell
  • Czech: mušle — shell
  • Danish: konkylie — shell
  • Dutch: schelp — shell
  • Esperanto: konko — shell
  • Estonian: merikarp — shell
  • Faroese: gágga — shell
  • Finnish: kotilo — shell
  • Finnish: simpukankuori — shell
  • Finnish: näkinkenkä — shell
  • French: coquille — shell
  • Galician: cuncha — shell
  • Georgian: ნიჟარა (nižara) — shell
  • German: Muschelschale — shell
  • German: Muschel — shell
  • Greek: όστρακο (óstrako) — shell
  • Hawaiian: pūpū — shell
  • Hebrew: צֶדֶף (tzédef) — shell
  • Hebrew: קוֹנְכִיָּה (qonchiá) — shell
  • Hindi: कौड़ी (kauṛī) — shell
  • Hungarian: kagyló — shell
  • Hungarian: kagylóhéj — shell
  • Ido: konko — shell
  • Indonesian: kerang laut — shell
  • Indonesian: lokan — shell
  • Irish: sliogán — shell
  • Irish: sliogán trá — shell
  • Italian: conchiglia — shell
  • Japanese: 貝殻 (kaigara) — shell
  • Kannada: ಕಪ್ಪೆಚಿಪ್ಪು (kappecippu) — shell
  • Kazakh: айғұлақ (aiğūlaq) — shell
  • Kazakh: бақалшық (baqalşyq) — shell
  • Kazakh: қабыршақ (qabyrşaq) — shell
  • Khmer: ខ្យង (khyɑɑng) — shell
  • Korean: 조개 (jogae) — shell
  • Kyrgyz: раковина (rakovina) — shell
  • Lao: ກາບຫອຍທະເລ (kāp hǭi tha lē) — shell
  • Lao: ເປືອກ (pư̄ak) — shell
  • Latvian: gliemežnīca — shell
  • Lithuanian: kriauklė — shell
  • Luxembourgish: Muschel — shell
  • Manx: shlig varrey — shell
  • Māori: kotakota — shell
  • Māori: angaanga — shell
  • Mirandese: concha — shell
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skjell — shell
  • Occitan: cauquilha — shell
  • Persian: صدف (sadaf) — shell
  • Persian: شنج (šonj) — shell
  • Polish: muszla — shell
  • Polish: muszelka — shell
  • Portuguese: concha — shell
  • Rohingya: horí — shell
  • Romanian: scoică — shell
  • Russian: ра́ковина (rákovina) — shell
  • Russian: раку́шка (rakúška) — shell
  • Russian: ра́кушка (rákuška) — shell
  • Slovak: lastúra — shell
  • Slovene: lupina školjke — shell
  • Spanish: concha — shell
  • Spanish: caracola — shell
  • Swedish: snäcka — shell
  • Swedish: musselskal — shell
  • Tajik: садаф (sadaf) — shell
  • Tarifit: ajɣur — shell
  • Telugu: చిప్ప (cippa) — shell
  • Thai: เปลือกหอย (bplʉ̀ʉak-hɔ̌i) — shell
  • Tibetan: དུང (dung) — shell
  • Tibetan: མགྲོན་བུ (mgron bu) — shell
  • Tibetan: ཉ་སོག (nya sog) — shell
  • Turkish: deniz kabuğu — shell
  • Turkish: kabuk — shell
  • Turkish: balık kulağı — shell
  • Turkish: mühre — shell
  • Turkmen: gabyk — shell
  • Ukrainian: му́шля (múšlja) — shell
  • Ukrainian: ра́ковина (rákovyna) — shell
  • Ukrainian: черепа́шка (čerepáška) — shell
  • Urdu: سَمُندْری صَدَف (samundrī sadaf) — shell
  • Uzbek: dengiz qobigʻi — shell
  • Uzbek: qobik — shell
  • Venetan: capa — shell
  • Vietnamese: vỏ sò — shell
  • Welsh: cragen — shell
  • Welsh: cragen fôr — shell
  • Yiddish: מושל (mushl) — shell
  • Catalan: blanc perla — colour
  • Persian: صدفی (sadafi) — colour
  • Persian: شنجی (šonji) — colour
  • Spanish: perlado — colour
Real reading context

seashell in complete knowledge articles