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crayfish

cray·fish

UK/ˈkɹeɪˌfɪʃ/ US/ˈkreɪfɪʃ/ uncommon

noun

1.

warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California

Synonyms
2.

tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

Synonyms
3.
4.

large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters

Synonyms

Origin

Alteration (by folk etymological influence of fish) of Middle English crevis (whence modern dialectal crevis), from Old French crevice ("crayfish"; > Modern French: écrevisse), from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, *grebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”), or from a substrate word folk-etymologically influenced by this root. Akin to Old High German krebiz (Modern German Krebs (“crustacean, crab, crayfish”)), Middle Low German krēvet (“crab, crayfish”), Dutch kreeft (“crayfish, lobster”), Old English crabba (“crab”). More at crab. Doublet of crevette, crevis, and Krebs.

Phrases

  • crayfish plague
  • crayfish snake
  • marbled crayfish
  • sea crayfish
  • signal crayfish

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.