cowrie
/ˈkaʊ.ɹi/noun
cowrie is a noun meaning “A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-O-W-R-I-E, and it appears about once in every 17 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of cowrie is cowries.
What does cowrie mean?
noun
- 1
A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
- 2
datedAny gastropod of the genus Cypraea; its shell.
- 3
Any gastropod of the family Cypraeidae; its shell.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce cowrie?
- /ˈkaʊ.ɹi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cowry.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-cowrie.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cowrie
- cowries plural
- cowry
- kauri
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is cowrie?
Cowrie appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 125,655th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Cowrie in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cauri , porcelaine |
| German | Kaurischnecke, Kaurimuschel, Kauri |
| Portuguese | búzio |
| Spanish | cauri |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cowrie come from?
Mid-17th century, borrowed from Hindi कौड़ी (kauṛī).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).