cowrie

• cowry, kauri

Mid-17th century, borrowed from Hindi कौड़ी (kauṛī).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊ.ɹi/

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• Rhymes: -aʊɹi

cowrie (plural cowries)

1. A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
2. (by extension, dated) Any gastropod of the genus Cypraea; its shell.
3. (by extension) Any gastropod of the family Cypraeidae; its shell.

• (Monetaria moneta): money cowrie
• (shell of M. moneta): shell money, wampum

• bean cowrie (Trivia merces)
• kernel cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)
• measled cowrie (Macrocypaea zebra)
• money cowrie (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta)
• nucleus cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)
• panther cowrie (Cypraea pantherina)
• ring cowrie (Monetaria annulus, syn. Cypraea annulus)
• tiger cowrie (Cypraea tigris)
• turtle cowrie (Chelycypraea testudinaria, syn. Cypraea testudinaria)
• wrinkled cowrie (Nucleolaria nucleus)

• cowrie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cypraeidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “cowrie | cowry, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893.

• cowier