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Glite Dictionary
giant crab

giant crab

4.1
A very large sea crab from Japan that lives in deep water with very long legs
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒaɪənt kræb/
translation icon : cangrejo gigante
  • The giant crab is known for its impressive size.

Examples

  • The giant crab is famous for its impressive size and long lifespan.

  • Fishermen caught a giant crab off the coast of Japan.

  • The aquarium has a giant crab on display, astonishing visitors with its massive legs.

  • Have you ever seen a giant crab?

  • The giant crab is famous for its impressive leg span, making it one of the largest crabs in the world.

  • When diving in Japan, we saw a giant crab with long legs scuttling across the ocean floor.

  • At the aquarium, the exhibit featured a giant crab that fascinated all the visitors with its size.

Synonyms

Macrocheira kaempferi
vsgiant crab
  • Specialized
9.9

A very large crab from Japan with very long legs that lives in the deep sea

focuses more on extreme leg length than on where it lives

How Big

giant crab
4.1
crab
101 1.0

Surface Forms

giant crab singular
giant crabs plural

Morphology

giant + crab

The compound 'giant crab' is directly interpretable as 'a very large crab' by composing 'giant' (very large) with 'crab' (marine crustacean). This simple adjective+noun combination follows common cross-linguistic composition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning even if they don't know the specific species name.

Etymology

Giant crab comes from the clear picture of a very large crab with very long legs, so it looks like a sea 'giant' or a spider. Because of that image, people used the name for the big deep-water species found near Japan, and today giant crab means that very large crab.