crayfish
part of speech
noun (a crayfish; plural crayfish or crayfishes)
meaning for a pupil
1) A small freshwater animal like a tiny lobster, with claws, a hard shell and ten legs, living in rivers, streams and lakes. tree →
2) (UK, Australia, NZ) A name also used for the spiny lobster (rock lobster), a sea animal without big claws; in NZ it is also called «crayfish» or «koura». tree →
3) The meat of these animals eaten as food: «crayfish sandwich». tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons on rivers and habitats, crayfish are crustaceans (like crabs and shrimps) and their presence can show clean water. In the UK, the native white-clawed crayfish is endangered because the larger American signal crayfish spreads a disease; people must not move crayfish between rivers. In the southern USA, «crawfish boils» are a Louisiana tradition. Phrases: «freshwater crayfish», «signal crayfish», «crayfish boil».
examples
- We found a crayfish hiding under a stone in the stream. tree →
- Crayfish have ten legs and two big claws. tree →
- The white-clawed crayfish is the UK's only native crayfish. tree →
- In Louisiana, people call them crawfish and boil them with corn. tree →
- In New Zealand, we ate crayfish caught off the coast. tree →
- Crayfish shed their hard shells as they grow. tree →
- Herons eat crayfish from the river. tree →
- Thus the Old Ritualists will not eat the crayfish (rak), holding that it was created by the Devil. tree →
note
Plural usually «crayfish» (the same), sometimes «crayfishes». In the USA, also «crawfish» or «crawdad». It is not a fish; the name comes from an old French word for crab that English speakers changed to sound like «fish». It is a crustacean, not an insect.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «crayfish» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.