cowrie
pronunciation
How to pronounce cowrie in British English:
UK [ˈkaʊri]
How to pronounce cowrie in American English:
US ['kaʊrɪ]
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- Noun:
- any of numerous tropical marine gastropods of the genus Cypraea having highly polished usually brightly marked shells
Word Origin
- cowrie (n.)
- small shell, used as money in parts of Asia, 1660s, from Hindi and Urdu kauri, from Mahrati kavadi, from Sanskrit kaparda, perhaps related to Tamil kotu "shell."
Example
- 1. A moken tribesman in myanmar 's andaman islands displays two large cowrie shells .
- 2. Cowrie whose shell is used for money in parts of south pacific and africa .
- 3. Long braids and cowrie shells : symbolise fertility and wealth
- 4. In early human trade activities , a shell named cowrie has played a role as medium of commodities exchange , for its durability , brightening , portable and the characteristics of natural units , which is also the most primitive currency .
- 5. One of the first things that you learn in any economic anthropology course is that value is always relative and culturally anchored whether the goods being exchanged are cowrie shells ( used as a status symbol in the trobriand islands ) or dollar bills ( whose worth depends on trust in a central bank ) .