Shelled

How to spell shelled

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shelled

What does shelled mean?

1. verbRemoved the shell, husk, or pod from a nut, seed, or similar food.
2. verbAttacked a position or target with explosive artillery shells.

Shelled in a sentence

• She shelled the peas into a bowl before dinner.

• The artillery shelled the enemy positions through the night.

• The recipe calls for shelled almonds rather than whole ones.

• Warships shelled the coastal defences before the landing.

Where does shelled come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word shell comes from the Old English sciell, which meant a hard outer covering such as a seashell, an eggshell, or the husk of a nut, and it belongs to the same Germanic family as the words 'scale' and 'skull', all of which share an idea of something that splits off or peels away. From the literal sense of a protective casing, the verb 'to shell' developed two practical meanings: to strip the shell or husk away from peas, beans, and nuts, and, from the 1600s onward, to bombard a target with explosive projectiles, since early artillery rounds were hollow casings called shells. The form 'shelled' is simply the past tense and past participle, made with the regular -ed ending. The doubled 'l' before that ending is the small spelling point to watch, mirroring the single short vowel in shell. Because the root has been in continuous English use since Anglo-Saxon times, the spelling has stayed remarkably stable.

How the word is built

• shell (from Old English sciell: hard outer covering)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)