crayfish

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crayfish

/ˈkɹeɪˌfɪʃ/

Where it comes from

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.

noun crayfishes · crayfish · crawfish · craifish · crafish · crefish

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

Similar: crawdad, crawldad, crawfish, crawlfish, mudbug, yabby

verb crayfishes · crayfishing · crayfished · crawfish · craifish

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

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: crawdad, crawldad, crawfish, crawlfish, mudbug, yabby

Translations

Every language

noun freshwater crustacean resembling lobster

Español	cangrejo de río, cangrejo, cigala, pigua fluvial
한국어	가재 gajae
日本語	蝲蛄 zarigani
中文	小龍蝦 /小龙虾 xiǎolóngxiā, 蝲蛄 làgǔ
हिन्दी	चिंगट ciṅgaṭ, क्रेफ़िश krefiś
Português	lagostim
Français	écrevisse, langoustine (saltwater)
Deutsch	Flusskrebs
Italiano	aragosta, gambero, gambero di fiume
Ελληνικά	ποταμοκαραβίδα potamokaravída, καραβίδα karavída
Română	rac
Русский	рак rak, лангу́ст langúst
Tiếng Việt	tôm hùm đất
العربية	جَرَاد الْبَحْر jarād al-baḥr
עברית	סרטן הנהרות

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MLA

"crayfish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/crayfish. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

crayfish. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/crayfish

Chicago

"crayfish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/crayfish.

BibTeX

@misc{crayfish_2026,
  title = {crayfish},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/crayfish},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}