Crayfish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkreɪˌfɪʃ/

Alternative forms

• crawfish
• craifish, crafish, crefish obsolete
• crevis, crevice, crevyssh obsolete

Origin

Alteration (by folk-etymology, influenced by fish) of Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice

Modern French: écrevisse}, from Old Frankish *krebitja ("crayfish"), diminutive of Old Frankish *krebit ("crab"), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz ("crab, cancer"), from Proto-Indo-European *grebʰ-, *gerebʰ- ("to scratch, crawl"). Akin to Old High German krebiz

Modern German Krebs ("crab")}, Middle Low German krēvet ("crab"), Dutch kreeft ("crayfish, lobster"), Old English crabba ("crab"). More at crab.

Full definition of crayfish

Noun

1. (New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota) A freshwater crustacean () resembling a small lobster, sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.
2. (AU, NZ, South Africa) A rock lobster.

Usage notes

The term crayfish predominates in New England (including New York and Pennsylvania) and in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In most of the United States—in the South, especially in Louisiana and Texas; in the Midwest and in the West—crawfish predominates. In a belt stretching across Kentucky through Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and in Oregon and northern California, the term crawdad predominates.

http://spark-1590165977.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com/jkatz/SurveyMaps/

Synonyms

• (freshwater crustaceans) crawdad, crawfish, mudbug, yabby Australia