clam

Pronunciation: /klæm/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud; the shell closes with viselike firmness
  2. noun a piece of paper money worth one dollar
  3. noun flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams

Etymology

From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clam (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Scientologist belief that human thetans (souls) previously inhabited clams.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
bivalve
Narrower (hyponyms)
geoduck, shipworm, soft-shell clam, razor clam, giant clam, quahog

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