Word.ws English Dictionary

crawfish

/ˈkɹɔˌfɪʃ/

crawfish noun: any of various freshwater crustaceans: crayfish.

crawfish: any of various freshwater crustaceans: crayfish
Image: tigrillagardenia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

crawfish (countable and uncountable, plural crawfishes or crawfish)

  1. (Louisiana, Southern US, Texas, US, Western, especially) Any of various freshwater crustaceans: crayfish.
  2. (South Africa) Any of various marine crustaceans, rock lobster; especially Jasus lalandii, the Cape crawfish.
  3. (Canada, Quebec, derogatory, slang) An English-Canadian. Used in some corners of Quebec (including the Gaspé).

Verb

crawfish (third-person singular simple present crawfishes, present participle crawfishing, simple past and past participle crawfished)

  1. (intransitive) To fish for crawfish.
    • As a matter of fact I had to go off at a moment's notice to arrange our connection at the coast. Fellow owning the bungalow wanted to crawfish.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  2. (Southern US, colloquial, intransitive) To backpedal, desert or withdraw (also used with out).
    • I have never been one to flinch or crawfish when faced with an unpleasant task.1968, Charles Portis, True Grit

crawfish meaning in Pashto

crawfish in Pashto

crawfish, crayfish, crab
سرطان saratā́n

Examples of crawfish in a sentence

  • And perhaps to begin we will have some gambas, crawfish, and bocarones, small fish prepared in vinaigrette.
  • These include crawfish and seafood boils, family boucheries, and community festivals.
  • Martin Parish have crawfish boils, or eat crawfish in any form, out of season.

All 11 example sentences with crawfish

Synonyms of crawfish

All synonyms of crawfish

Forms of crawfish

Noun
pluralcrawfishes
pluralcrawfish
Verb
third-person singular presentcrawfishes
present participlecrawfishing
past participlecrawfished
pastcrawfished

Plural of crawfish: crawfishes or crawfish

Origin of crawfish

1620s, folk etymology (compare crawl) from Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice (“crab”) (French écrevisse), influenced by fish. Compare crayfish.

Words formed from crawfish

Questions about crawfish

What does crawfish mean?
Crawfish means any of various freshwater crustaceans: crayfish.
What is crawfish in Pashto?
Crawfish in Pashto is سرطان (saratā́n). See Crawfish meaning in Pashto.
What part of speech is crawfish?
Crawfish can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce crawfish?
Crawfish is pronounced /ˈkɹɔˌfɪʃ/.
What is the plural of crawfish?
The plural of crawfish is crawfishes.

Words near crawfish in the dictionary

  1. crawdaddies
  2. crawdaddy
  3. crawdads
  4. crawed
  5. Crawf
  6. crawfish
  7. crawfished
  8. crawfisher
  9. crawfisherman
  10. crawfishermen
  11. crawfishers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crawfish (page history and authors); سرطان (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-crawfish.ogg.

Cite this entry: “crawfish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crawfish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.