• AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    A cockle is a type of shellfish. I don’t know how the association with the heart was formed, but it must be old—the Latin name for the order is “Cardiida”.

    • palordrolap@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Cockles are literally heart shaped when viewed side on. The cardioid in mathematics gets its name from the same thing and that’s bulbous by comparison.

      Wiktionary also suggests that “cockles” may be a corruption of cochlea(e) which is one of at least a couple of names for the heart’s ventricles.