mollusca

See also: Mollusca

English

Noun

mollusca pl (plural only)

(archaic) Molluscs.
- 1851, S[amuel] P[ickworth] Woodward, “Classes of the Mollusca”, in A Manual of the Mollusca; or, A Rudimentary Treatise of Recent and Fossil Shells, London: John Weale, […], page 6:
  The mollusca are animals with soft bodies, enveloped in a muscular skin, and usually protected by a univalve or bivalve shell. […] The univalve mollusca are encephalous, or furnished with a distinct head; they have eyes and tentacula, and the mouth is armed with jaws.
- 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 100:
  Turning for a very brief space to animals: on the land there are some hermaphrodites, as land-mollusca and earth-worms; but these all pair.
- 1862, Arthur Lutze, translated by Charles J[ulius] Hempel, “[Appendix.] The Human Body”, in Manual of Homœopathic Theory and Practice. Designed for the Use of Physicians and Families., New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.: […] William Radde, […], page 532:
  The amphibious animals are provided with special organs for the sense of smell, although a very delicate sense of smell is likewise met with among the crustacea, such as crabs, mollusca and insects.
- 1886 July, Keswal [pseudonym; W. F. Sinclair], “Notes on the Waters of Western India. Part I.—‘British Deccan and Khandesh.’”, in R[obert] A[rmitage] Sterndale, E[dward] H[amilton] Aitken, editors, The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, volume I, number 3, Bombay: […] [T]he Education Society’s Press […], page 114:
  Probably frogs, crabs, mollusca, and insects form their chief diet; […]
- 1910, Frank Leverett, Comparison of North American and European Glacial Deposits, Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger, page 302:
  The löss fauna is largely of terrestrial mollusca, as in America, […]
- 1940, Frank F[itch] Grout, “[The Sedimentary Rocks] Limestones”, in A Handbook of Rocks for Use Without the Petrographic Microscope, 6th edition, New York, N.Y.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., […], page 169:
  The gentle slopes are favorable to the growth of various mollusca whose hard parts contribute additional material to the growing limestones.
- 1964, V[alentine] J[ackson] Chapman, Coastal Vegetation, Oxford, Oxon, […]: Pergamon Press; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →LCCN, pages 16 and 31:
  On salt marshes, burrowing crabs, mollusca and annelids undoubtedly assist in aeration of the soil. […] One can, for example, make a study of the algae that occur on the shells of some of the larger mollusca or on barnacles.

Latin

Pronunciation

mollusca: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.ka/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠kä]
mollusca: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]
molluscā: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.kaː/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠käː]
molluscā: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]

Etymology 1

Feminine of molluscus (“soft”), from mollis (“soft”).

Noun

mollusca f (genitive molluscae); first declension

a kind of soft nut with a thin shell

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	mollusca	molluscae
genitive	molluscae	molluscārum
dative	molluscae	molluscīs
accusative	molluscam	molluscās
ablative	molluscā	molluscīs
vocative	mollusca	molluscae

Related terms

Adjective

mollusca

inflection of molluscus:
1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Adjective

molluscā

ablative feminine singular of molluscus

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.ka/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠kä]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]

Noun

mollusca

nominative/accusative/vocative plural of molluscum