crayfish

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Alteration (by folk etymological influence of fish) of Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice ("crayfish"; > Modern French: écrevisse), from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, *gerebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”).

Akin to Old High German krebiz ("edible crustacean, crab"; > Modern German Krebs (“crab”)), Middle Low German krēvet (“crab”), Dutch kreeft (“crayfish, lobster”), Old English crabba (“crab”). More at crab.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɹeɪˌfɪʃ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

crayfish (plural crayfishes or crayfish)

  1. Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.
    1. (New England, Pennsylvania, Upper Midwestern US) A freshwater crustacean (family Cambaridae), sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.
  2. (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) A rock lobster (family Palinuridae).
  3. (Australia) A freshwater crayfish (family Parastacidae), such as the gilgie, marron, or yabby.
  4. (Singapore) The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family (Scyllaridae).

Usage notes

  • Within the US, the term crayfish predominates in the region of New England and in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In much of the United States—in the South, especially in Louisiana and Texas; in the Midwest and in the West—crawfish predominates. In a belt stretching across Kentucky through Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and in Oregon and northern California, the term crawdad predominates.[1]

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

crayfish (third-person singular simple present crayfishes, present participle crayfishing, simple past and past participle crayfished)

  1. (intransitive) To catch crayfish.
  2. Alternative spelling of crawfish (to backpedal, desert, or withdraw).

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “Archived copy”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1], 29 July 2013 (last accessed), archived from the original on 6 June 2013

Further reading

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