noun
snail; spiral shell
Refers to gastropods with a coiled shell, including both land snails and marine spiral shells. In everyday use, often points to the shell itself or the animal.
海岸で美しい巻き貝を拾った。
I picked up a beautiful spiral shell on the beach.
庭の葉っぱの上に小さな巻き貝がいた
There was a small snail on a leaf in the garden.
Compound of 巻き (maki, 'winding') + 貝 (kai, 'shellfish'), literally 'winding shellfish'. The reading まきがい is a straightforward combination of the kun'yomi readings.