Etymology

true crab

Today it means: A brachyuran, a member of the infraorder Brachyura. Full definition →

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The story

true + crab. From being a member of a monophyletic grouping of decapods that have been taxonomically defined as the actual crabs, without polyphyletically grouping in other crab lineages, now delineated as false crabs.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.