Alaska king crab
- noun
- /əˈlæskə kɪŋ kræb/
- US
:
cangrejo rey de Alaska
- Most seafood lovers consider Alaska king crab a delicacy for its sweet, tender meat.
Examples
-
I love Alaska king crab!
-
We enjoyed a delicious meal of steamed Alaska king crab on our trip to Juneau.
-
The price of Alaska king crab has risen significantly due to overfishing and increased demand.
-
Have you ever tried Alaska king crab?
-
The restaurant's specialty is the Alaska king crab, which they serve steamed with garlic butter.
-
During the summer, we often go fishing for Alaska king crab along the coast of Kodiak Island.
-
At the seafood market, fresh Alaska king crab legs are displayed for customers to choose their dinner.
Synonyms
1
3.3
A very large crab that lives in cold northern seas near Alaska with a spiny shell and sweet meat
A very large crab that people eat from the northern Pacific, called the red king crab
A large crab you can eat that lives in cold northern seas near Alaska and Japan
A large spiny crab that lives in cold northern seas
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'king' here signals a large/premium type of 'crab' and 'Alaska' specifies geographic origin, so a learner who knows the three words can infer it refers to a large crab (or crab meat) from Alaska. There is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, and this place + type noun combination is a common, cross-linguistically transparent compounding pattern.
Etymology
Alaska king crab gets its name from the very large crab that lives off Alaska; people called it a king because it is much bigger than other crabs and has long, impressive legs. That's why the phrase means the large wild crab known for its size and value.