Word.ws English Dictionary

hermit crab

hermit crab noun: a decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.

hermit crab: a decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty...
Image: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hermit crab (plural hermit crabs)

  1. A decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.
    • In the U.S., Akers would like to see all hermit crabs legally reclassified as exotic pets, like an alligator or an ocelot, so their sale and ownership could be regulated. To her, every crab’s life is precious.2025 August 19, Melissa Scott Sinclair, “Consider the Hermit Crab”, in Slate

hermit crab meaning in Tamil, Malay, Indonesian and Thai

hermit crab in Tamil

தபசி நண்டு, துறவி நண்டு

hermit crab in Malay

crustacean
umang-umang

hermit crab in Indonesian

crustacean
kelomang

hermit crab in Thai

crustacean
ปูเสฉวน bpuu-sěe-chǔuan
More languagesFewer languages
hermit crab in Vietnamese
ốc mượn hồn, cua kí cư, cua ẩn sĩ

Forms of hermit crab

pluralhermit crabs

Words formed from hermit crab

Questions about hermit crab

What does hermit crab mean?
Hermit crab means a decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.
What is hermit crab in Tamil?
Hermit crab in Tamil is தபசி நண்டு, துறவி நண்டு. See Hermit crab meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is hermit crab?
Hermit crab is a noun.
What is the plural of hermit crab?
The plural of hermit crab is hermit crabs.

Words near hermit crab in the dictionary

  1. Hermiones
  2. Hermionic
  3. Hermionë
  4. Hermippe
  5. hermit
  6. hermit crab
  7. hermit crabs
  8. hermit kingdom
  9. hermit kingdoms
  10. hermit thrush
  11. hermit thrushes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hermit crab (page history and authors); hermit crab (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hermit crab.wav.

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