mussel
Americannoun
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mussels
plural
noun
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any of various marine bivalves of the genus Mytilus and related genera, esp M. edulis ( edible mussel ), having a dark slightly elongated shell and living attached to rocks, etc,
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any of various freshwater bivalves of the genera Anodonta, Unio, etc, attached to rocks, sand, etc having a flattened oval shell (a source of mother-of-pearl). The zebra mussel , Dreissena polymorpha, can be a serious nuisance in water mains
Usage
Where does mussel come from? Take a quick gander at your muscles. Do you think they look anything like ... mice? And do you think mice resemble mussels, as in the edible mollusk? This may sound odd to you, but to the ancient Romans, it would have made perfect sense. This is because both the words muscle and mussel come from musculus, which literally means "little mouse" (mus means and is related to "mouse"). As far as we can tell, the ancient Romans thought that the movement of a muscle, especially when flexing, looked like a mouse was running under your skin. If you don’t know how muscles work, it sounds as reasonable a guess as any. Now to the mollusk: the ancient Romans apparently also thought that mussels, the shellfish, looked like little mice. The word mussels also comes from that same Latin noun as muscle: musculus. The roots of these other words may get a rise—of laughter or surprise—out of you. Run on over to our roundup of them at "Weird Word Origins That Will Make Your Family Laugh."
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mussel
before 1000; Middle English, Old English muscle < Vulgar Latin *mūscula, variant of Latin mūsculus little mouse, sea mussel. See muscle
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:
Supriyanto, 32, is a green mussel trader and once bought from local fishermen who harvested the shellfish offshore.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
On Wednesday, they served a mussel dish with garlic confit and serrano chili developed by his breakfast sous chef.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 13, 2025
The Species in Peril report warns others could face a similar fate, including the high brown fritillary butterfly and rainbow-coloured Snowdon leaf beetle, Arctic-Alpine pea mussel, woolly feather-moss and eyed chestnut wrinkle-lichen.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025
The amphipod was discovered at a depth of 2,602 meters in a mussel bed within the Galápagos Rift hydrothermal vent fields.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025
The dark mussel was still rolling before them.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
In the pens, robots scrape algae and mussels off the nets to ensure none of it gets trapped in the salmon’s gills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
Harvesting bivalves, like clams, oysters, scallops and mussels, is especially sustainable because these species do not require feed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
They also sampled starfish and mussels living on or near the submarine.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Blue mussels have begun colonising her lines, and fish cluster beneath them, drawing seabirds overhead.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
Because they are so little regarded, even by naturalists, mussels have vanished at an exceptional rate.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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