conchology

American  

[kong-kol-uh-jee] / kɒŋˈkɒl ə dʒi /

noun

1. the branch of zoology dealing with the shells of mollusks.

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conchology British  

/ ˌkɒŋkəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, kɒŋˈkɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the study and collection of mollusc shells

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Other Word Forms

• conchological adjective
• conchologically adverb
• conchologist noun

Etymology

Origin of conchology

1770–80; conch + -o- + -logy

Example Sentences

One of his bestselling works was an introduction to conchology, the science of shells.

From Slate • Aug. 2, 2021

He called these “combinations of concrete objects,” recurring in time, “involutes,” a term he borrowed from conchology.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 10, 2016

Emerson, curator of mollusks at the Museum of Natural History, provides the basic conchology, including a cautionary account of a species of cone-shell snails whose "dartlike radular delivery apparatus" can cause a fatal wound.

From Time Magazine Archive

In conchology and mineralogy, the cabinet is rich both in foreign and native specimens; the minerals having been in great part collected by La Marmora, and arranged by him in 1835.

From Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition. by Forester, Thomas

Milton. pros. prosody. coll., colloq. colloquially. min. mineralogy. prov. provincial. comp. comparative. mod. modern. q.v. which see. conch. conchology.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various