crayfish

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“
The assertion is much to be questioned, but there can be no doubt that the crayfish is a wonderful sprinter.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun 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. noun See spiny lobster.
  3. 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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Examples (50)

  • I expected the waiting crayfish to devour the morsels they had received from the mega-crayfish, and perhaps they did, but they did this out of my sight, disappearing into their holes with their treasures. —  F ;SF; - vol 102 issue 05 - May 2002
  • Beneath Acton's reflection in the shallows, a crayfish is wriggling its pale self loose from an exoskeleton it has outgrown. —  AeonTen
  • Isolated marbled crayfish (Procambarus spec.) displayed rhythmic locomotor activity under 12-h light: 12-h darkness (LD12: 12) and rhythmicity persisted after switching to constant darkness —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
  • You may want to read my post for the introduction to the topic, as I explain there why studying aggression in crayfish is important and insightful, what was done to date, and what it all means, as well as the standard methodology in the field. —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
  • Is there social entrainment in crayfish, i.e., do they entrain their rhythms to each other in constant conditions? —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. 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.
 

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/ˈkrɔˈ, krejfɪʃ/
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