mollusc

British

/ mɒˈlʌskən, ˈmɒləsk /

noun

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)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

mollusc-like adjective
molluscan adjective

Etymology

Origin of mollusc

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"One of the reasons I'm interested in these snails is because they're so beautiful," explained evolutionary geneticist and mollusc expert Prof Angus Davison from the University of Nottingham.

From BBC • Aug. 3, 2025

Chemically speaking, its formation begins with a mollusc extracting calcium and carbonate ions from water.

From Science Daily • Jan. 12, 2024

The mollusc deposits layers of aragonite and conchiolin, which together form nacre, also know as mother-of-pearl.

From BBC • Sep. 5, 2022

Paulo Buckup and fellow zoologist Alexandre Pimenta examine mollusc specimens that were saved from the fire.Credit:

From Nature • Jul. 15, 2019

Periwinkle, per′i-wingk-l, n. a small univalve mollusc: a small shellfish, abundant between tide-marks on the rocks, boiled and eaten as food.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023