hermit crab
4
3.6
- noun
- /ˈhɜːrmɪt kræb/
:
cangrejo ermitaño
- A hermit crab, startled by Sarah's shadow and her hand, scuttles into a protective niche between two green anemones.
- a hermit crab as a pet
- hermit crab's shell
- terrestrial hermit crabs
I was like, I remember the pet hermit crab I got from the, I think it was like a County Fair.
- I was like, I remember the pet hermit crab I got from the, I think it was like a County Fair.
- They carcinized from the humble hermit crab, which themselves are not true crabs.
- And the extent to which they had to torture these hermit crabs to get them to leave the really nice show was pretty absurd.
- We're not in the same species as, you know, tree slog or, you know, hermit crab or something like that.
Examples
-
At the lip of the pool, the hermit crab claws its way out of the water and onto the rock.
Fiction book (1994) -
There was a hermit crab inside, and it pinched her ear.
Blog text (29) -
Sarah reaches for the hermit crab, careful to touch only the shell, not the tender body.
Fiction book (1994) -
Once we had six hermit crabs in our moat at the beach.
Fiction book (1994) -
A hermit crab hides in the rocky crevices awaiting the changing tide.
Fiction book (2001) -
Tiny hermit crabs scuttled in a moat we had dug and lined with rocks and shells.
Fiction book (1994) -
The hermit crab is known for living in the shells of other animals for protection.
-
At the beach, we found a hermit crab scuttling across the sand in its borrowed shell.
-
Children enjoy watching the hermit crab change shells as it grows.
How Big
- US
1
3.3
- US
1
5.1
- US
2
3.4
4
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'hermit' (someone who lives in isolation or uses a shelter) + 'crab' (a crustacean): a crab that lives like a hermit in a shell. This metaphoric naming is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun hermit crab comes from the animal's habit of living alone inside an empty shell, like a 'hermit' who lives alone in a small home. The crab hides its soft body in the shell for protection, so the name means a small crab that lives in other animals' shells.