mollusk
Americannoun
-
mollusks
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mollusk
1775–85; < French mollusque < New Latin Mollusca; see Mollusca
Explanation
Your pet snail, Sammy, is one example of a mollusk, or a soft, spineless animal. In Sammy's case, he has a shell, though some mollusks don't. It's a bit ironic that this term for a large phylum of invertebrates comes from a Latin word that means "soft," mollis, since many mollusks (or molluscs in Britspeak) have hard shells. The epithet comes from the nature of the creatures' bodies, whether in shell (like a snail) or without (like a slug).
Vocabulary lists containing mollusk
"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Animals (Zoology) - Introductory
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Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
The high presence of hearths and mollusk and fish remains in the middens suggests that the area was used for the processing and consumption of marine resources.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
The oyster farmer, Will Peckham, 31, for example, left a job in corporate finance in the city to start West Robins Oyster Co., a mollusk farm in Peconic Bay about seven years ago.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
It wasn’t a worm, a mollusk, or a crustacean.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 21, 2023
These compacted layers of mollusk fossils always amaze his students, another humble reminder that everything California is standing and building on was underwater in a previous chapter of this planet’s history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
Marie-Laure sits on a bench beside the mollusk display and trains her ears on passing groups.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
These included a variety of worms, mollusks, and crustaceans.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025
A radioactive wasp’s nest was found at a decommissioned nuclear worksite in South Carolina, and a thriving community of tube worms and mollusks was located at the bottom of deep-sea trenches in the Pacific.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2025
The mollusks are efficient filter feeders and can increase the clarity of water by consuming large quantities of plankton, which native fish and other creatures depend on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024
The so-called “hot girl food” is exactly what its name suggests: processed seafood — namely sardines, anchovies, salmon, mollusks and shellfish — that’s neatly packaged and presented in a peel-back, often decorative tin.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2024
He held out two of the black, bearded mollusks.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
