crayfish
Meanings
Plural: crayfish, crayfishes
Noun
- warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California
- tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly
- small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster
- large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters
- Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.
- Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.
- A freshwater crustacean (family Cambaridae), sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.
- A rock lobster (family Palinuridae).
- A freshwater crayfish (family Parastacidae), such as the gilgie, marron, or yabby.
- The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family (Scyllaridae).
Verb
- To catch crayfish.
- Alternative spelling of crawfish (to backpedal, desert, or withdraw).
Origin / 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.
Synonyms
crawdad, crawdaddy, crawfish, crawldad, crawlfish, ecrevisse, langouste, Moreton Bay bug, mudbug, rock lobster, sea crawfish, spiny lobster, yabby
Scrabble Score: 19
crayfish is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordcrayfish is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
crayfish is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary