crayfish
noun🔊/ˈkreɪfɪʃ/
🔊/ˈkreɪfɪʃ/
(especially British English) (also crawfish especially in North American English)
[countable, uncountable] (plural crayfish, crawfish)
an animal like a small lobster that lives in rivers and lakes and can be eaten, or one like a large lobster that lives in the sea and can be eaten 淡水螯虾；刺龙虾 Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French crevice, of Germanic origin and related to German Krebs. In the 16th cent. or earlier the second syllable was altered by association with fish.