Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Conch
/kɒŋk/noun
A large spiral sea snail, or its shell, sometimes blown as a horn.
The Greek roots
κόγχη
kónchē
mussel, shell
Literally: “shell”
Follow a root:κόγχη1 word
The story of the word
Kónchē covered any bivalve or shell, and Greek architects also used it for the half-dome over an apse, which is shell-shaped. Latin took it as concha, and from there the word split: conch came in through learned Latin, cockle came in through Old French, and both are the same shell. Key West locals still call themselves Conchs.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
cockleconchologyconcha
In a sentence
A boy blew the conch and the arguing stopped.