snail king

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Calque of German Schneckenkönig (“snail king”)

Noun[edit]

snail king (plural snail kings)

  1. (rare) A snail possessing a sinistral shell, from a species in which dextral shells are the norm.
    • 2016, Øyvind Hammer, The Perfect Shape: Spiral Stories, page 30:
      In German-speaking countries, there is a legend that a left-handed snail specimen is a “snail king” — Schneckenkönig.
    • 2017, Georg Glaeser, Math Tools: 500+ Applications in Science and Arts, page 330:
      Virtually, almost all snail shells wind in the clockwise direction (mathematically negative) when viewed from above. This is not the case with the "snail king".
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