crayfish

IPA/ˈkreɪfɪʃ/
KK[krˈefɪʃ]IPA/ˈkreɪfɪʃ/

crayfish — noun

  • crayfishsingular
  • crayfishesplural

1. a small hard-shelled animal with claws, found in streams, ponds, or lakes and sh

1.nounB2
Definition

a small hard-shelled animal with claws, found in streams, ponds, or lakes and shaped like a tiny lobster, or the meat from it when people eat it

Example

Jude pulled a crayfish from the stream with a small net.

freshwater habitat: streams and small nets

Amira bought spicy crayfish for the family picnic at the lake.

food use: crayfish as a dish

Common collocations
  • catch crayfish
  • boiled crayfish
  • river crayfish
  • crayfish trap
Synonyms
  • crawfish

    a regional variant, especially common in parts of the southern United States

  • lobster

    a larger sea animal with a heavier body and, usually, much bigger claws

Grammar Patterns

a crayfish

catch crayfish

eat crayfish

Usage Note

Usually countable when you mean the living animal. In menu or recipe language, crayfish often works as an uncountable food noun, as in 'We had crayfish for lunch.'

Common Mistakes

The river was full of crayfishes.
The river was full of crayfish.
In everyday English, the usual plural is crayfish, not crayfishes.

2. a large sea animal like a spiny lobster, with a hard shell and no large front cl

2.nounC1
Definition

a large sea animal like a spiny lobster, with a hard shell and no large front claws, or the meat from it served as food

Example

Christopher ordered grilled crayfish tails at the beach cafe.

food context: crayfish tails on a menu

On the reef, Sivan saw a crayfish crawl into a narrow crack.

marine habitat: reef-dwelling sea species

Common collocations
  • crayfish tails
  • grilled crayfish
  • sea crayfish
  • reef crayfish
Synonyms
  • spiny lobster

    the more usual common name for this clawless sea species

  • rock lobster

    a regional name used for the same kind of sea animal in some varieties of English

Grammar Patterns

a crayfish

grilled crayfish

crayfish tails

Usage Note

This is a rare meaning in everyday English and usually appears in fishing or restaurant contexts. Many speakers would say 'spiny lobster' instead when they want to make the sea species clear.

Common Mistakes

The diver found a crayfish with two huge front claws.
The diver found a sea crayfish with no huge front claws.
In this rare sea sense, the animal is more like a spiny lobster.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Crayfish usually means the small freshwater animal that looks like a tiny lobster, and it can also mean the meat from that animal when people are cooking or eating it. Crawfish is mostly a regional variant, especially in parts of the southern United States, so the meaning is usually the same but the local flavor is different. Lobster is much larger, fully marine, and strongly linked with heavy front claws. Shrimp and prawn are also smaller seafood animals, but they have a lighter, less lobster-like shape. In nature writing, crayfish belongs with rivers, lakes, mud, traps, and stones rather than open sea water.

crawfishlobster ↗shrimp ↗prawn ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • catch crayfish
  • cook crayfish
  • eat crayfish

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word came into English from an older French-based name for this animal. Over time, English speakers reshaped the ending to fish because the creature lives in water and the new form sounded more familiar. The modern spelling can be misleading, though: a crayfish is a crustacean, not a fish.