cowrie

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun any of numerous tropical marine gastropods of the genus Cypraea having highly polished usually brightly marked shells

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

There was no need to worry about food—no need to spend a cowrie at the crowded stalls. — Kim, Rudyard Kipling
Know, that there is no dealing here except by cowries, and the cowrie is 3,500 to a mithcal. — Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846, James Richardson
On palm-fringed shores I colour the Cowrie shell, With its edges curled; And, deep in Datura poison buds, I dwell In a perfumed world. — India's Love Lyrics, Laurence Hope

cowry

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