Etymology

conchoid

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Today it means: Any of a family of curves defined as the locus of points p, such that each p is on a line that passes through a given fixed point P and intersects a given curve, C, and the distance from p to the point of intersection with C is a specified constant (note that for nontrivial cases two such points p satisfy the criteria, and the resultant curve has two parts). Full definition →

Latin concha ← Ancient Greek κόγχη
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκογχοειδής
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromκόγχη
  3. Latin · derived fromconcha“mussel”
  4. English todayconchoid

From Latin concha (“mussel”) (from Ancient Greek κόγχη (kónkhē)) + -oid or directly from Ancient Greek κογχοειδής (konkhoeidḗs), referring to the curved outline of a mussel shell or anything in this form. By surface analysis, conch + -oid.

Words from the same roots

Latinconcha all →

coquinacunca

Ancient Greekκόγχη all →

conchologycoquinacunca

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.