Clamshells

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of shell typical of certain mollusks that resembles two hinged halves
2. An enclosing form or casing that has a distinctive opening similar to a bivalve shell
3. Referring to a packaging style that is composed of two parts that fold together, often used for products like electronics or food

Etymology: "Clamshells" is the plural of "clamshell," a compound of "clam" and "shell." The "clam" part is the older word, a name for the bivalve mollusc, and "shell" is the hard outer covering that these animals (and many others) grow. Put together, the compound describes anything with two hinged halves that close over a central contents, much as a clam's valves close over its soft body. The packaging sense is a figurative extension of that animal image. Hinged plastic containers that snap shut around a product, common for electronics and takeout food, are shaped like a bivalve closing its shell, and the name transferred from the creature to the container. The word is therefore a plain compound rather than a coinage from classical roots, and its literal sense of a clam's shell still underlies the packaging meaning.

Synonyms: shells, covers