sea crawfish
- noun
- /siː ˈkrɔːfɪʃ/
- US
:
langosta de mar
- Unlike the common lobster, the sea crawfish does not have large pincers.
Examples
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The Caribbean is known for its delicious sea crawfish, often served with spicy sauces.
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Divers harvesting sea crawfish must be careful of the creature's sharp spines.
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I love to eat sea crawfish!
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The restaurant serves fresh sea crawfish every day.
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The Caribbean is known for its delicious sea crawfish, often served with spicy sauces.
-
Divers harvesting sea crawfish must be careful of the creature's sharp spines.
-
Unlike the common lobster, the sea crawfish does not have large pincers.
Synonyms
8
9.3
A large spiny sea animal like a lobster that people eat
2
2.8
A large sea animal like a lobster with a spiny shell that people eat
1
3.8
A large sea animal with a spiny shell and no big claws eaten as food
1
4.2
A large sea animal with a spiny shell and no big claws, often eaten in warm seas
A large spiny lobster without big claws that people eat
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently built from 'sea' (marine) + 'crawfish' (lobster-like crustacean), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a crawfish that lives in the sea — a marine, edible crustacean. Noun+noun type specification is a common, compositional pattern cross-linguistically, making the meaning readily derivable for B1 learners.
Etymology
Sea crawfish: The name sea crawfish may come from early fishermen who found a lobster-like animal in the sea that looked like a small crawfish from rivers. So the name means a 'crawfish' of the sea, which explains why it refers to a large edible marine crustacean with a spiny shell and no big pincers.