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Glite Dictionary
🦪 Hard outer shell 🦀 Like crabs or lobsters
crustaceous

crustaceous

8.7
Relating to animals like crabs and lobsters
  • adjective
  • /krəˈsteɪʃəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : crustáceo
  • The exhibit featured a variety of crustaceous animals, showcasing their unique adaptations.

Examples

  • The biologist studied the crustaceous features of the crab to understand its habitat better.

  • Yeah, the exigua is a crustaceous isopod normally found in the Pacific.

    The Bay (2012)

  • Many crustaceous creatures, such as shrimp and crabs, play vital roles in marine ecosystems.

Synonyms

crustacean
vscrustaceous
  • Specialized
5.9

Relating to animals with a hard outer shell, like crabs

focuses on features or traits of those animals rather than formal class membership

Surface Forms

crustaceous positive

Morphology

crustaceous = crust (opaque) = crust + aceous

The word is formed with the recognizable element 'crust' and the learned suffix '-aceous', but the zoological sense is specialized and not straightforwardly predictable.

Etymology

Crustaceous is related to crustacean, the group name for animals like crabs and lobsters, and to crust, meaning 'a hard outer shell'. So crustaceous means 'relating to' or 'like' crustaceans, which is why we use it for crabs, lobsters and similar animals.