dentalium

American  

[den-tey-lee-uhm] / dɛnˈteɪ li əm /

noun

dentaliums, plural dentalia plural

1. any tooth shell of the genus Dentalium.

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dentalium British  

/ dɛnˈteɪlɪəm /

noun

1. any scaphopod mollusc of the genus Dentalium See tusk shell

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• dentalia
  plural
• dentaliums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dentalium

1860–65; < New Latin < Medieval Latin dentāl ( is ) dental + -ium -ium

Example Sentences

At the unveiling, Shaginoff wore a fire bag she’d made and decorated with dentalium shells.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 12, 2021

There is a common little sea-shell found in the Pacific Ocean called the dentalium.

From American Indians by Starr, Frederick

The Karok use as money the red scalps of woodpeckers which are rated at from $2.50 to $5.00 each, and also dentalium shells of which they grind off the tip.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

The natives of the coast are fond of it as ornament, and among them strings of dentalium shells serve for money just as wampum did in the east.

From American Indians by Starr, Frederick

They were not tattooed, but ears and noses were encumbered with pendants of dentalium and a small red glass bead.

From Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-1880, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 263-552 by Mallery, Garrick