shellfish
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shellfish
before 900; Middle English; Old English scilfisc. See shell, fish
Explanation
Use shellfish to refer to crustaceans and mollusks, especially the ones people commonly eat. Crabs, mussels, and shrimp are all shellfish. If you serve your guests a shellfish stew, they'll know it's full of creatures that originally had shells or hard exoskeletons. In most kitchens and restaurants, the term includes marine animals such as lobsters and oysters, and freshwater species like crayfish too. Fishery regulators only use shellfish for mollusks, including clams and mussels. The funny thing is that shellfish aren't fish at all — they're more closely related to arachnids and insects!
Vocabulary lists containing shellfish
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for September 30–October 6, 2023
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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.
"Shellfish harvesting is central to coastal Alaska Native culture," said Hugh Roland, an environmental sociologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who led the study.
From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024
Mallahan buys Neah Bay halibut from the Makah Nation, Blackmouth salmon from the Lummi Nation, Shigoku oysters and Manilla clams from Taylor Shellfish, rockfish from the Washington coast and Dungeness crab from Bellingham Bay.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 18, 2023
Shellfish were a particular worry, because in their case, unlike fish, we eat the entire animal—stomach, microplastics and all.
From National Geographic • May 8, 2023
Each week, PDK Shellfish sends several large trucks from the port-side depot at Oban to France and Spain, filled with tons of seafood kept alive in tanks of seawater through which air is pumped.
From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2023
Shellfish of other sorts were obtained at Mistaken Island in abundance, of which the most common were a patella and an haliotis; the inhabitant of the former made a coarse, although a savoury dish.
From Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 2 by King, Phillip Parker
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.
