English
snailshellsnailshell
From snail + shell.
A compound of snail + shell
Proto-Germanic *snagilaz
Old English sneġel ‘a snail or slug, a gastropod’
Middle English snayl ‘a snail or slug’
English snail
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘to cut, split’
Proto-Germanic *skaljō ‘shell, husk’
Proto-West Germanic *skallju
Old English sċiell
Middle English schelle
English shell
Today it means
noun The shell of a snail.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “snailshell”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / snailshell
Shirt and support for this word