cowrie

American  

[kou-ree] / ˈkaʊ ri /

Or cowry

noun

• cowries
  plural

1. the highly polished, usually brightly colored shell of a marine gastropod of the genus Cypraea, as that of C. moneta money cowrie, used as money in certain parts of Asia and Africa, or that of C. tigris, used for ornament.

2. the gastropod itself.

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cowrie British  

/ ˈkaʊrɪ /

noun

1. any marine gastropod mollusc of the mostly tropical family Cypraeidae, having a glossy brightly marked shell with an elongated opening

2. the shell of any of these molluscs, esp the shell of Cypraea moneta ( money cowry ), used as money in parts of Africa and S Asia

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cowries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cowrie

First recorded in 1655–65; from Hindi, Urdu kauṛī, kauḍī, from Sanskrit kapardikā, diminutive of kaparda-, of Dravidian origin; compare Tamil kavaṭi, kotu “shell, cowrie”

Explanation

A cowrie is a marine mollusk, a sea creature with a bright, glossy shell. The largest number of cowries live in the Indian Ocean. Cowrie shells were once a common form of currency, traded as money or worn as jewelry. They are particularly beautiful, shiny as porcelain (a word that's derived from the old Italian term for cowrie, porcellana). In North America, cowries are common along parts of the California coast, in Mexico, and in some parts of the Southeastern U.S. Cowrie is from the Hindi and Urdu kauri and a Sanskrit root, kaparda, "shell."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cowrie cowries

"People come to write their vows on cowrie shells that they throw here," she said.

From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026

Like the evidence markers and cowrie shells are two things that shouldn’t be together, but somehow by putting them together in this way, it creates a third, or new, meaning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025

One, in a purple dress beaded with cowrie shells, had a matching purple hood.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2023

One blue and white duo, covered in beads, cowrie shells and little bottles, splits the difference between Nick Cave and central African power figures.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2022

He sets a tiny paper scroll, no bigger than a cowrie shell, in her palm.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Cullors represents the first 12 Odù with cowries — some cast in polished gold — stitched onto 1950s “mud cloth” from Mali, bought at a flea market in Pasadena.

From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2023

She recounts that, as a currency, cowries “have circulated longer than any other single coin or paper money in history.”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 28, 2021

That night, I dreamt of Felicia in her bathing suit with her pail of cowries and bleeding tooth.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Barnacles, cowries, thirteen lumps of quartz gritty with sand.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr