Shell in Different Languages
Discover 'Shell' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Shell
Afrikaans dop | ||
Albanian guaskë | ||
Amharic shellል | ||
Arabic الصدف | ||
Armenian խեցին | ||
Assamese খোলা | ||
Aymara kaparasuna | ||
Azerbaijani qabıq | ||
Bambara ka wɔrɔ | ||
Basque maskorra | ||
Belarusian абалонка | ||
Bengali খোল | ||
Bhojpuri सीप | ||
Bosnian školjka | ||
Bulgarian черупка | ||
Catalan petxina | ||
Cebuano kabhang | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 贝壳 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 貝殼 | ||
Corsican cunchiglia | ||
Croatian ljuska | ||
Czech skořápka | ||
Danish skal | ||
Dhivehi ބޮލި | ||
Dogri कोका | ||
Dutch schelp | ||
English shell | ||
Esperanto ŝelo | ||
Estonian kest | ||
Ewe dzato | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kabibi | ||
Finnish kuori | ||
French coquille | ||
Frisian shell | ||
Galician cuncha | ||
Georgian გარსი | ||
German schale | ||
Greek κέλυφος | ||
Guarani pire | ||
Gujarati શેલ | ||
Haitian Creole kokiy | ||
Hausa harsashi | ||
Hawaiian pūpū | ||
Hebrew צדף | ||
Hindi शेल | ||
Hmong plhaub | ||
Hungarian héj | ||
Icelandic skel | ||
Igbo shei | ||
Ilocano lupos | ||
Indonesian kulit | ||
Irish bhlaosc | ||
Italian conchiglia | ||
Japanese シェル | ||
Javanese cangkang | ||
Kannada ಶೆಲ್ | ||
Kazakh қабық | ||
Khmer សំបក | ||
Kinyarwanda igikonoshwa | ||
Konkani शिपली | ||
Korean 껍질 | ||
Krio shɛl | ||
Kurdish legan | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) قاوغ | ||
Kyrgyz кабык | ||
Lao ຫອຍ | ||
Latin testa | ||
Latvian apvalks | ||
Lingala mposo ya liki | ||
Lithuanian apvalkalas | ||
Luganda ekisosonkole | ||
Luxembourgish réibau | ||
Macedonian школка | ||
Maithili कवच | ||
Malagasy akorandriaka | ||
Malay tempurung | ||
Malayalam ഷെൽ | ||
Maltese qoxra | ||
Maori anga | ||
Marathi कवच | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯝꯀꯨ | ||
Mizo kawr | ||
Mongolian бүрхүүл | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အခွံ | ||
Nepali खोल | ||
Norwegian skall | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chipolopolo | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଶେଲ୍ | | ||
Oromo man'ee cilalluu | ||
Pashto پوړ | ||
Persian پوسته | ||
Polish muszla | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) concha | ||
Punjabi ਸ਼ੈੱਲ | ||
Quechua churu | ||
Romanian coajă | ||
Russian оболочка | ||
Samoan atigi | ||
Sanskrit कोष्ठ | ||
Scots Gaelic slige | ||
Sepedi legapi | ||
Serbian шкољка | ||
Sesotho khetla | ||
Shona goko | ||
Sindhi شيل | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කවචය | ||
Slovak škrupina | ||
Slovenian lupino | ||
Somali qolof | ||
Spanish cáscara | ||
Sundanese cangkang | ||
Swahili ganda | ||
Swedish skal | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kabibi | ||
Tajik ниҳонӣ | ||
Tamil ஷெல் | ||
Tatar кабыгы | ||
Telugu షెల్ | ||
Thai เปลือก | ||
Tigrinya ዛዕጎል | ||
Tsonga xiphambati | ||
Turkish kabuk | ||
Turkmen gabyk | ||
Twi (Akan) hono | ||
Ukrainian оболонка | ||
Urdu شیل | ||
Uyghur shell | ||
Uzbek qobiq | ||
Vietnamese vỏ sò | ||
Welsh plisgyn | ||
Xhosa iqokobhe | ||
Yiddish שעל | ||
Yoruba ikarahun | ||
Zulu igobolondo |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "dop" in Afrikaans is derived from the Dutch word "dop" meaning "cap" or "cover", and can also refer to a small cup or container. |
| Albanian | The term "guaskë" in Albanian, besides referring to a protective layer, also denotes a thin layer applied to the surface of an object. |
| Amharic | "Shell" is also the English word for the external covering of an egg |
| Arabic | The word "الصدف" can also refer to the mother-of-pearl lining of a shell, or to the game of chance where players guess the position of an object hidden under one of three cups. |
| Armenian | The word “խեցին” is also used to refer to a shield or armor. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "qabıq" also refers to a type of pastry filled with meat or vegetables and resembles a pastry shell, reflecting the versatility of the term's culinary and linguistic applications. |
| Basque | The word "maskorra" in Basque also refers to a type of wicker basket used to transport fish and other items. |
| Belarusian | Абалонка is also used colloquially to refer to someone's head. |
| Bengali | The word "খোল" is also used to refer to a type of musical instrument, particularly a percussion instrument consisting of a hollowed-out gourd or wooden frame covered with skin. |
| Bosnian | The Bosnian word "školjka" also refers to the outer layer of a pearl oyster, and is used in the idiom "biti u školjci" meaning to be closed in or isolated. |
| Bulgarian | "Черупка" can also refer to a small cup, or a part of an animal's anatomy, such as its ear shell or eyelid." |
| Catalan | "Petxina" comes from the Latin "pecten" and initially referred to the pecten muscle of the scallop or "vieira". |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "kabhang" is thought to be derived from the Malay word "kabang", meaning "box" or "container". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 贝壳本意指金钱,因金钱形似贝壳而得名. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 貝殼在《說文解字》上解釋為「水蟲甲也」，除了指海洋生物的外部骨骼或保護層外，也可用於比喻某些形狀或性質類似殼的器物或事物，如「蛋殼」、「龜殼」、「防護貝殼」等。 |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "cunchiglia" is derived from the Italian word "conchiglia" and has alternate meanings of "oyster" and "scallop" |
| Croatian | In some Croatian dialects, "ljuska" can also refer to a layer of something like bark, skin, or crust. |
| Czech | The word 'skořápka' also refers to a type of pastry filled with fruit or jam. |
| Danish | The Danish word "skal" (shell) also means "toast" and derives from the Old Norse word "skál," meaning "bowl" or "cup." |
| Dutch | In Dutch, the word "schelp" refers not only to the hard outer covering of a mollusk, but also to the coins used in card games. |
| Esperanto | Esperanto has a second "ŝelo" which means a "person who is always on the go or who likes to talk a lot" |
| Estonian | "Kest'" originally meant a protective or firm layer such as the crust of bread. |
| Finnish | "Kuori" also means "crust" in Finnish, referring to the hard outer layer of various substances like bread or ice. |
| French | The French word "coquille" can also mean "misprint" or "small mistake". |
| Frisian | In Frisian, the word "shell" can also mean "peel" or "skin" of fruit or vegetables. |
| Galician | The Galician word "cuncha" can also refer to a specific type of shellfish, such as a clam or a mussel. |
| Georgian | "გარსი" additionally means "cover", "surface", or "membrane" in Georgian. |
| German | The German word "Schale" is a multi-purpose word that can mean a cup, a peel, a bowl, or, of course, a shell. |
| Greek | The word "κέλυφος" (shell) also denotes a turtle shell, a cup, a vault, or a coffin in Greek. |
| Gujarati | "શેલ" means "shell". It is a Gujarati word that is used to refer to the hard outer covering of an animal or plant. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "kokiy" can also mean "shell" in French. |
| Hausa | The word "harsashi" also means "snuff" in Hausa. |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, "pūpū" originally referred to the sound of a conch shell, and later took on the meanings "conch shell" and "appetizer". |
| Hebrew | "צדף" can also mean "side" or "direction" in Hebrew. |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "शेल" also means a house made of tiles or bricks, with a tiled roof. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "plhaub" also refers to the outer layers of certain plants and to a protective device used in a children's game. |
| Hungarian | The word "héj" in Hungarian can also refer to the skin, or the bark of a tree. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "skel" is cognate with the English word "scale" and can also refer to a bowl or dish. |
| Igbo | In addition to meaning "shell," "shei" also means "shield," "cover," or "protection." |
| Indonesian | The word "kulit" in Indonesian comes from the Proto-Austronesian word "kulit", which also means "skin". |
| Irish | Irish 'bhlaosc' and Welsh 'blaidd' are cognates with the same Proto-Celtic root as English 'blade', which is 'bleid'. The root is reconstructible from Proto-Indo-European. |
| Italian | The term "conchiglia" is derived from the Latin "conchylium," meaning "seashell" or "mollusc." |
| Japanese | The word "シェル" can also refer to a computer application's "shell", derived from the command-line shell, an interface which allows users to interact with the operating system. |
| Javanese | "Cangkang" in Javanese also means "casing" or "box", and is often used to refer to the outer layer of something, such as a fruit or a building. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ಶೆಲ್" can also refer to a type of bean or a coin. |
| Kazakh | In Kazakh, the word 'қабық' also means 'crust' or 'skin', highlighting its diverse meanings related to external coverings. |
| Khmer | "សំបក" can also refer to a type of Cambodian musical instrument. |
| Korean | The word "껍질" also means "rind" or "peel", such as in 귤껍질 (grapefruit peel) or 계란껍질 (eggshell). |
| Kurdish | The word 'legan' is cognate with the Persian word 'laghun' and the Armenian word 'lagwnak'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "кабык" can also refer to animal skins and the outer layer of certain plants. |
| Lao | The word "ຫອຍ" can also refer to a type of vegetable or a kind of snail. |
| Latin | In Latin, "testa" also refers to an earthen vessel, a brick, a tile, a skull, or the shell of a nut. |
| Latvian | Latvian "apvalks" means both "shell" and "coat, cover, coverlet, sheet, or wrapper." |
| Lithuanian | The word "apvalkalas" has a literal meaning of "enveloping ball" and also means "covering" or "envelope". |
| Luxembourgish | Réibau is a loanword from the Walloon language, related to the French word "rabaisse" meaning "to lower". |
| Macedonian | In addition to its primary meaning, "школка" can also refer to a type of school or a place where something is cultivated. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "akorandriaka" is sometimes used to describe a type of shellfish, such as a clam or oyster. |
| Malay | Tempurung (Malay for "shell") derives from the Sanskrit word "tampura", meaning "coconut", or "skull" in reference to the similarity in shape. |
| Malayalam | In Malayalam, "ഷെൽ" also refers to a type of cloth made from fine cotton threads. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "qoxra" is derived from the Arabic word "qushra", meaning "peel" or "bark". It can also refer to the rind of fruit or the skin of an animal. |
| Maori | The Maori word "anga" can also mean "limb" or "branch" in the context of the human body or plants. |
| Marathi | कवच (kavach) also means 'shield', 'mail', or 'plate armour' in Marathi. |
| Mongolian | The word "бүрхүүл" (shell) can also refer to a cover, casing, or envelope. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | In Burmese, |
| Nepali | The word खोल originates from Sanskrit and can also mean 'to open' or 'to reveal'. |
| Norwegian | In some Norwegian dialects, "skall" can also refer to a thin layer of ice. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "chipolopolo", meaning "shell" in Nyanja, is also used as a nickname for the Zambian national football team. |
| Pashto | پوړ, which means 'skin' in Pashto, is also used to denote 'shell' and 'crust'. |
| Persian | Also written as |
| Polish | The word "muszla" is derived from the Old Polish word "musza", which meant "snail". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, "concha" can also refer to a type of bread or a musical instrument. |
| Punjabi | ਸ਼ੈੱਲ (shell) means both a protective outer layer and the currency of Belize. |
| Romanian | The word "coajă" is also used figuratively to refer to the external layer or covering of something, such as a book cover or a nut's shell. |
| Russian | In Russian, the word "оболочка" can also refer to a membrane or a wrapper. |
| Samoan | In Samoan slang, |
| Scots Gaelic | Slige stems from the Old Irish word slig, a generic term for a shell or husk |
| Serbian | The word "шкољка" (shell) in Serbian originally referred to a tortoise shell, but its meaning has expanded to include other hard-shelled objects like sea shells and nuts. |
| Sesotho | The plural form of 'khetla' (shells) is 'makhetla', which means 'money' in contemporary slang. |
| Shona | The word 'goko' can also refer to a calabash used as a drinking vessel or a type of snail. |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, "شيل" also refers to "removing" or "peeling". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "කවචය" is also a term for the armour worn by warriors in the ancient Sinhala army. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word ''škrupina'' (''shell'') originally comes from Germanic languages via Polish and can also mean ‘crust’… |
| Slovenian | "Lupino" is the Italian name for the lupin bean, a type of legume. |
| Somali | Somali "qolof" comes from "qolaf", meaning "to break", because shells can break into many pieces |
| Spanish | The word "cáscara" also refers to the thin outer layer of certain fruits, such as coconuts and almonds. |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, "cangkang" can also mean "crust" or "rind". |
| Swahili | "Ganda" translates as "shell" in Swahili, and can also refer to a "hard object" or "a person with a hard or unyielding nature." |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "skal" has many alternate meanings, including "skull", "armor", and "crust". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "kabibi" in Tagalog is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "kabi" meaning "shell" or "cowrie". |
| Tajik | The word "ниҳонӣ" (shell) is also used to mean "secret" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, "ஷெல்" can also refer to a "company" or a "corporation" |
| Thai | The Thai word "เปลือก" (shell) comes from the Pali language, and is related to the words "ปิฐ" (to envelop) and "กรัก" (to close). |
| Turkish | "Kabuk" can also mean "crust" or "scab" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The word "оболонка" in Ukrainian has roots in Proto-Slavic "oblъ", from which the Russian word "облако" (cloud) also derives. |
| Urdu | The word “شیل” can also mean “a strip of cloth, especially one worn around the head or waist” or “protection, covering, shield, or support” in Urdu. |
| Uzbek | "Qobiq" can also mean "crust" (e.g., the crust of bread) or "covering" (e.g., the covering of a book). |
| Vietnamese | "Vỏ sò" is also a metaphor for a person who is strong and resilient, like the protective shell of a mollusk. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "plisgyn" also means "a layer of something" such as a layer of fat or a layer of clothing. |
| Xhosa | In Xhosa, "iqokobhe" means both "shell" and "a woman who has lost her husband." |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "shaal" can also refer to a "step" or a "stage" in a process. |
| Yoruba | "Ikarahun" can also mean "the outer hard covering of a coconut" or "a skull" in Yoruba |
| Zulu | Igobolondo is a Zulu word that refers to a snail's shell, but it can also figuratively describe someone who is slow-moving or indecisive. |
| English | In addition to its meaning as an external covering, |