crayfish
Americannoun
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Also called crawdad, crawdaddy. any freshwater decapod crustacean of the genera Astacus and Cambarus, closely related to but smaller than the lobsters.
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any of several similar marine crustaceans, especially the spiny lobster.
noun
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any freshwater decapod crustacean of the genera Astacus and Cambarus, resembling a small lobster
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any of various similar crustaceans, esp the spiny lobster
Usage
What does crayfish mean? A crayfish is a freshwater crustacean related to the lobster but smaller. Crayfish is also used as the name of several similar saltwater crustaceans, especially the spiny lobster (also called the rock lobster). The plural of crayfish can be crayfish or crayfishes. When used as a plural, crayfish typically refers to them collectively, while crayfishes usually refers to two or more kinds or species (but this isn’t always the case). Crayfish aren’t fish—they’re shellfish. Other types of crustaceans include crabs, lobsters, and shrimp. There are several different species of both freshwater and saltwater crayfish. Freshwater ones are also referred to by the names crawfish, crawdad, and crawdaddy. Use of these terms varies by region. Example: When I was a kid, we used to catch crayfish in the creek.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crayfish
1350–1400; alteration (by folk etymology) of Middle English crevis < Middle French crevice < Old High German krebiz crab 1
Compare meaning
How does crayfish compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We see Adrian at the film’s beginning as a small child, catching crayfish and other underwater creatures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The River Lugg is home to six protected and endangered species, including common otter, Atlantic salmon, white clawed crayfish, brook lamprey, shad and bullhead.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
Creating the atlas meant pulling the GPS coordinates from every modern crayfish occurrence record in the literature and from museum and agency collections.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
Neither overfishing nor pollution, writes David Wilcove in his book The Condor’s Shadow, “has endangered as many species of fish, mussels, amphibians, and crayfish as has habitat destruction.”
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2024
“You know I used to collect stuff up the Valley for Doc, turtles and crayfish and frogs. Got a nickel apiece for frogs.”
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Nothing could be seen, however, but an unusual number of prawns or crayfishes, into which they supposed the infant had been changed.
From Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before by Turner, George
Their warfare on crayfishes must not be overlooked, nor must we forget the more personal debt of gratitude we owe them for preying upon mosquitoes.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
You can tuck up the sleeves, and we will catch crayfishes again.
From Abbe Mouret's Transgression by Zola, Émile
Small crayfishes are desirable to show locomotion in water.
From A Guide for the Study of Animals by Lucas, Frederic
Ulenspiegel, wishing to know why he was mimicking the crayfishes in this fashion, planting himself before him and smiling, jumped in step with him.
From The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume I (of 2) And Lamme Goedzak, and their Adventures Heroical, Joyous and Glorious in the Land of Flanders and Elsewhere by Coster, Charles Th?odore Henri de
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
