crayfish

CEFRB1

/ˈkɹeɪˌfɪʃ/

noun

Türkçe translations

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In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small freshwater animal like a little lobster.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A rock lobster (family Palinuridae).

Examples

  • They turned over rocks to look for crayfish.

  • Tom went fishing for crayfish.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.

  2. A freshwater crustacean (family Cambaridae), sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.

  3. A freshwater crayfish (family Parastacidae), such as the gilgie, marron, or yabby.

Synonyms

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Origin

noun

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.