crayfish (redirected from Crayfish plague)

cray·fish  (krfsh) also craw·fish (krô-)

n. pl. crayfish or cray·fish·es also crawfish or craw·fish·es

1. Any of various freshwater crustaceans of the genera Cambarus and Astacus, resembling a lobster but considerably smaller. Also called mudbug; also called regionally crawdad.

2. See spiny lobster.

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[By folk etymology from Middle English crevise, from Old French crevice, perhaps from Old High German krebiz, edible crustacean; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: The crayfish, also known as the crawfish, owes its name to a misunderstanding. The actual source of the word may be the Old High German word krebiz, "edible crustacean," or a word related to it. From this Germanic source came Old French crevice, which when taken into English became crevise (first recorded in a document written in 1311-1312). In Old French and Middle English these words designated the crayfish. People began to pronounce and spell the last part of this word as if it were fish, the first fish spelling being recorded in 1555. Because of a variation in Anglo-Norman pronunciation, two forms of the word have come down to Modern English: crayfish and crawfish.

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crayfish or esp US crawfish

Noun

pl -fish or -fishes an edible shellfish like a lobster [Old French crevice crab]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	crayfish - warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California langouste, rock lobster, spiny lobster sea crawfish, spiny lobster, langouste, rock lobster, crawfish, crayfish - large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters shellfish - meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean)
	2.	crayfish - tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly crawdad, crawfish, ecrevisse Old World crayfish, ecrevisse - small crayfish of Europe and Asia and western North America American crayfish - common large crayfishes of eastern North America shellfish - meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean)
	3.	crayfish - small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster crawdaddy, crawfish, crawdad decapod, decapod crustacean - crustaceans characteristically having five pairs of locomotor appendages each joined to a segment of the thorax Astacidae, Astacura, family Astacidae - crayfish Old World crayfish, ecrevisse - small crayfish of Europe and Asia and western North America American crayfish - common large crayfishes of eastern North America
	4.	crayfish - large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters sea crawfish, spiny lobster, langouste, rock lobster, crawfish lobster - any of several edible marine crustaceans of the families Homaridae and Nephropsidae and Palinuridae genus Palinurus, Palinurus - type genus of the family Palinuridae crayfish, langouste, rock lobster, spiny lobster - warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California

Translations

crayfish [ˈkreɪfɪʃ] n (pl inv) (freshwater) → cangrejo (de río);

(saltwater) → cigala

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crayfish [ˈkreɪfɪʃ] n (pl inv) (freshwater) → écrevisse f;

(saltwater) → langoustine f

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crayfish [ˈkreɪfɪʃ] n inv (freshwater) → Flusskrebs m;

(saltwater) → Languste f

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crayfish [ˈkreɪfɪʃ] n (pl inv) → gambero (d'acqua dolce)

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crayfish [ˈkreifiʃ]

a type of edible shellfish. kreef جَراد بَحْر вид рак rak krebs der Krebs καραβίδα cangrejo de río; cigala (agua salada) jõevähk لابستر تیغی rapu écrevisse סַרטָן נְהָרוֹת झींगा मछली rak (slatkovodni) folyami rák udang karang vatnakrabbi acqua dolce gambero di; aragosta ざりがに 가재 vėžys (upes) vēzis udang krai rivierkreeft kreps langusta lagostim rac (de râu) речной рак rak (sladkovodni) rak rečni rak kräfta, langust กุ้งชนิดหนึ่งคล้ายกุ้งก้ามกราม kerevit, tatlı su istakozu 小龍蝦 річний рак جهينگا مچهلى tôm 小龙虾