Definition
壳 (ké) is the general word for a hard outer covering: an eggshell, nutshell, turtle's shell, or a device's casing. 甲 (jiǎ) specifically refers to armor or a hard protective shell (like a turtle's carapace), while 贝壳 (bèi ké) means a seashell. 壳 can also be pronounced qiào in formal compounds like 地壳 (earth's crust).
noun
shell (of an egg, nut, animal, etc.)outer casinghousing (of a device)
Easily confused
- 沉chénlook-aliketo sink, to submerge
- 可kěsound-alike(adverb) used for emphasis: really, certainly, very
- 壶húlook-alikepot, kettle
- 克kèsound-alike(classifier) gram (unit of weight)
- 颗kēsound-alike(classifier) for small roundish objects such as pearls, grains, teeth, hearts, stars, satellites
- 课kèsound-alikeclass; lesson; subject; course
- 科kēsound-alike(noun) subject, discipline, field of study
- 棵kēsound-alike(classifier) for trees, cabbages, plants, and other growing vegetation
- 刻kèsound-alike(classifier) quarter (of an hour); a short moment
- 渴kěsound-alikethirsty
Examples
- 壳。Jīdàn de ké hěn báo.The egg shell is very thin.
- 壳。Zhège ké hěn piàoliang.This shell is very pretty.
- 。Shǒujī de wài ké yòng sùliào zuò de.The phone's outer casing is made of plastic.
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