Conchiglie, commonly known as "shells" or "seashells" is a type of pasta

Pasta

Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...

. It is usually sold in the plain durum wheat variety, and also in colored varieties which utilize natural pigments, such as tomato extract, squid ink or spinach extract. The shell shape of the pasta is good at catching the sauce. It is one of the most popular pasta types in the UK.. A mini variety called Conchigliette is also available.

Etymology

The name derives from the Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 word for seashell

Seashell

A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers...

 (conchiglia). The Italian word Conchiglie, and the English word Conch

Conch

A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....

, share the same Greek root in the form of Konkhe, which means shell.