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Glite Dictionary
soft-shelled crab

soft-shelled crab

1 4.2
A crab that recently shed its shell so it is soft and people eat it whole
  • noun
  • /sɔft-ʃɛld kræb/
translation icon : cangrejo de concha blanda
  • Then they had a lunch of soft-shelled crabs and a good white wine.

Examples

  • We enjoyed a delicious meal featuring soft-shelled crab prepared with garlic and butter.

  • The restaurant is famous for its soft-shelled crab served in a spicy sauce.

  • At the seafood market, I bought some fresh soft-shelled crabs for dinner.

Synonyms

soft-shell crab
vssoft-shelled crab
2 4.9

A crab with a soft new shell that people often eat whole

is the same idea but uses a different hyphenated form in the name

How Soft

soft-shelled crab
1 4.2

Surface Forms

soft-shelled crab singular
soft-shelled crabs plural

Morphology

soft-shelled + crab

The meaning is directly compositional: 'soft-shelled' = having a soft shell, combined with 'crab' yields a crab with a soft shell, so a learner who knows 'soft' and 'shell/crab' can infer the referent. A B1 learner might not know the biological detail (that it has recently shed its shell), but that pragmatic nuance does not prevent transparent comprehension of the basic meaning.

Etymology

Soft-shelled crab comes from a simple image: when a crab has just shed its hard shell it is left with a thin, soft shell, so people can eat the whole crab. That's why the name means a crab that has just shed its shell and is eaten as a 'special food'.