crayfish
Americannoun
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crayfish,
plural
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crayfishes
plural
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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
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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:
What started as a little friendly rivalry soon turned into a nationwide search for record-breaking crayfish.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Differences in shell structure or muscle anatomy might impose physical limits on how large North American crayfish can become.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
That raised an obvious question: Why do North American crayfish appear to stop growing at around this size when some species elsewhere in the world, including the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish, can become dramatically larger?
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Environmental specialist Peter Cunningham told AFP that potential sediment plumes could impact rocky shoreline habitats, crayfish spawning and breeding species.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Campus earthworms had been fed inadvertently to crayfish in a research project and all the crayfish had promptly died.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
And yet, objectively considered, there is no reason to be less disgusted at the eating of crayfishes than when some other kind of animal is eaten in the same manner.
From The Sexual Life of the Child by Eden Paul
The crayfishes would leave these little retreats whenever disturbed, and swim away down stream out of sight.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 446, July 19, 1884 by Various
And at the same time," added Bouvard, for they mutually excited each other, "this Providence takes care of little birds, and makes the claws of crayfishes grow again.
From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Gustave Flaubert
They reached without incident the famous Grindstone Ford of Bayou Pierre, where crayfishes had destroyed a pioneer dam.
From The Paths of Inland Commerce; a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway by Archer Butler Hulbert
In South America crayfishes are found in southern Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various
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