Word
winkle
Phoneticswin·kle
US/ˈwɪŋkəɫ/
UK/wˈɪŋkəl/
Definition
n. a small sea snail that people sometimes eat. It has a hard, spiral shell and lives on rocks by the ocean.
n. a small, edible marine gastropod mollusc with a turbinate shell, commonly found on rocky shores. Often referred to more specifically as a periwinkle.
Examples
“We spent the afternoon picking winkles from the rocks.”
“The seaside stall sold small paper cones filled with boiled winkles, which customers ate using a pin to extract the meat.”
“Ecologists monitored the winkle population along the shoreline to assess the impact of rising water temperatures on the local intertidal biodiversity.”
Examples
simple
“We spent the afternoon picking winkles from the rocks.”
contextual
“The seaside stall sold small paper cones filled with boiled winkles, which customers ate using a pin to extract the meat.”
complex
“Ecologists monitored the winkle population along the shoreline to assess the impact of rising water temperatures on the local intertidal biodiversity.”
Usage
Commonly used in British English; the full form 'periwinkle' is more frequent in scientific or international contexts.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/winkle