mollusc

/ mɒˈlʌskən, ˈmɒləsk /

noun

1. any invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, having a soft unsegmented body and often a shell, secreted by a fold of skin (the mantle). The group includes the gastropods (snails, slugs, etc), bivalves (clams, mussels, etc), and cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopuses, etc)

Other Word Forms

• molluscan adjective
• mollusc-like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mollusc¹

C18: via New Latin from Latin molluscus, from mollis soft

Example Sentences

While on holiday she was fascinated by their foraging behaviour as they moved gracefully through the shallow, saline wetlands, filter-feeding for molluscs and crustaceans.

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Scientists photographed and filmed what looked like fields of marine life - dominated by various different types of tube worm and mollusc.

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She said the rocks were about 140 to 180 million years old and contained ammonites – spiral-shelled molluscs that lived in the oceans while dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

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The mollusc was discovered on the 100-year anniversary of it first being identified and named.

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"The blobfish had been sitting patiently on the ocean floor, mouth open waiting for the next mollusc to come through to eat," the pair said.

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