Cypraea

noun

type genus of the family Cypraeidae: the typical cowries

• Syn: ↑genus Cypraea

• Hypernyms: ↑mollusk genus

• Member Holonyms: ↑Cypraeidae, ↑family Cypraeidae

• Member Meronyms: ↑cowrie, ↑cowry

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\\sīˈprēə, sə̇ˈ-\ noun

Usage: capitalized

Etymology: New Latin, from Latin Cypria or Late Latin Cypris, a name for Venus-Aphrodite, goddess of love, from Greek Kypris, from Kypros Cyprus, island in the Mediterranean, her reputed birthplace

: a genus (the type of the family Cypraeidae) of gastropod mollusks comprising the typical cowries with smoothly polished often brightly colored shells covered in life by the reflected lobes of the mantle