Meanings
plural crayfishes · alternative crawfish · alternative obsolete craifish · alternative obsolete crafish · alternative obsolete crefish · alternative crevis · alternative crevyssh
- Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.
- New EnglandPennsylvaniaUpper Midwestern USA freshwater crustacean (family Cambaridae), sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.
- AustraliaNew ZealandSouth AfricaA rock lobster (family Palinuridae).
- AustraliaA freshwater crayfish (family Parastacidae), such as the gilgie, marron, or yabby.
- SingaporeThe species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family (Scyllaridae).
Synonyms: Moreton Bay bug
present singular third person crayfishes · participle present crayfishing · participle past crayfished · past crayfished · alternative crawfish · alternative obsolete craifish · alternative obsolete crafish · alternative obsolete crefish · alternative crevis · alternative crevyssh
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family (Scyllaridae).
More synonyms by meaning
nounwarm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California
nountiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly
nounsmall freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster
nounlarge edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- substrate
- Proto-Indo-European*gerbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*krabitaz“crab, cancer”
- Frankish*krebit“crab”
- Frankish*krebitja“crayfish”
- Old Frenchcrevice
- Middle Englishcrevis
- Englishcrayfish
Alteration (by folk etymological influence of fish) of Middle English crevis (whence modern dialectal crevis), from Old French crevice ("crayfish"; > Modern French: écrevisse), from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, *grebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”), or from a substrate word folk-etymologically influenced by this root. Akin to Old High German krebiz (Modern German Krebs (“crustacean, crab, crayfish”)), Middle Low German krēvet (“crab, crayfish”), Dutch kreeft (“crayfish, lobster”), Old English crabba (“crab”). More at crab. Doublet of crevette, crevis, and Krebs.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Frankish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans kreef
- kreeffreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Ancient Greek κάραβος
- κάραβος (kárabos)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Arabic جَرَاد الْبَحْر
- جَرَاد الْبَحْر (jarād al-baḥr)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Basque ibai-karramarro
- ibai-karramarrofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Bulgarian ре́чен рак, рак
- ре́чен рак (réčen rak)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- рак (rak)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Catalan cranc de riu
- cranc de riufreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Chinese Mandarin 小龍蝦 /小龙虾, 蝲蛄
- 小龍蝦 /小龙虾 (xiǎolóngxiā)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- 蝲蛄 (làgǔ)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Czech rak
- rakfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Danish krebs
- krebsfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Dutch rivierkreeft
- rivierkreeftfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Esperanto astako, kankro
- astakofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- kankrofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Estonian jõevähk
- jõevähkfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Finnish rapu
- rapufreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
French écrevisse, langoustine (saltwater)
- écrevissefreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- langoustine (saltwater)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
German Flusskrebs
- Flusskrebsfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Greek ποταμοκαραβίδα, καραβίδα
- ποταμοκαραβίδα (potamokaravída)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- καραβίδα (karavída)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Hebrew סרטן הנהרות
- סרטן הנהרותfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Hindi चिंगट, क्रेफ़िश
- चिंगट (ciṅgaṭ)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- क्रेफ़िश (krefiś)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Hungarian rák, folyami rák
- rákfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- folyami rákfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Icelandic vatnakrabbi
- vatnakrabbifreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Italian aragosta, gambero
- aragostafreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- gamberofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- gambero di fiumefreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Japanese 蝲蛄
- 蝲蛄 (zarigani)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Korean 가재
- 가재 (gajae)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Latin cancer, carabus
- cancerfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- carabusfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Latvian vēzis
- vēzisfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Lithuanian vėžys
- vėžysfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Māori koura, kēwai
- kourafreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- kēwaifreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- pourakato catch crayfish
Norwegian Bokmål kreps
- krepsfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Persian چنگاره, خارچنگ
- چنگاره (čangâre)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- خارچنگ (xârčang)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Polish rak
- rakfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Portuguese lagostim
- lagostimfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Romanian rac
- racfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Russian рак, лангу́ст
- рак (rak)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- лангу́ст (langúst)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Slovak rak
- rakfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Spanish cangrejo de río, cangrejo
- cangrejo de ríofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- cangrejofreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- cigalafreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- pigua fluvialfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Swedish kräfta
- kräftafreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Thai เครย์ฟิช, กุ้ง
- เครย์ฟิช (kree-fít)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
- กุ้ง (gûng)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Turkish kerevit
- kerevitfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Ukrainian рак
- рак (rak)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Vietnamese tôm hùm đất
- tôm hùm đấtfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Welsh cimwch yr afon
- cimwch yr afonfreshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Yiddish ראַק
- ראַק (rak)freshwater crustacean resembling lobster
Cite this entry
crayfish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crayfish
“crayfish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crayfish. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crayfish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crayfish.
Source: crayfish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.