soft-shell crab
2
4.9
- noun
- /sɔft-ʃɛl kræb/
:
cangrejo de concha blanda
- The soft-shell crab was crunchy, topped with a thick slice of smoky, salty pancetta, covered with that amazing remoulade!
- fried soft-shell crab
- fried soft-shell crab
- crunchy soft-shell crab
Examples
-
In his arms, he held packages and a box of dry ice and frozen seafood—oysters, shrimp, and soft-shell crab.
Fiction book (2000) -
In half an hour they're all gone, off to their homes for a dinner of onion soup and soft-shell crabs, I say wistfully, and then smile.
Fiction book (1996) -
I do believe it's the same place where you had the soft shell crab!
Blog text (13) -
The last time we were here, I offered her a bit of my soft-shell crab.
Fiction book (1996) -
It was a a soft shell, a fried soft shell crab, green Curry that was really, really delicious.
-
- Just soft-shell crab.
-
Soft-shell crabs.
-
Lise looks up from her soft-shell crabs to see if the diners at the nearby tables are staring.
Fiction book (1999) -
We loved a fried soft-shell crab appetizer, sweet and meaty, a paragon of freshness.
-
Dad is partial to soft-shell crab and roast suckling pig.
Synonyms
1
4.2
A crab that recently shed its shell so it is soft and people eat it whole
How Hard
1
3.2
2
4.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
soft-shell + crab
The meaning is directly compositional: 'soft-shell' describes the condition of the 'shell' (being soft) and combined with 'crab' yields a crab with a soft shell. This follows normal English compounding patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the basic culinary meaning (even if they might not know the specific molting detail).
Etymology
The noun soft-shell crab comes from a simple image: a crab that has just shed its old shell and now has a soft-shell. Because the shell is still soft, people often eat the whole crab, so the name tells you the crab can be 'eaten whole'.