French word

crabe

Pronunciation

IPA/kʁab/

Meaning

  • masculine nouncrab

Example

Nous avons acheté un crabe pour le dîner.

We bought a crab for dinner.

Illustration for crabe (crab)

More examples

Le crabe marche de côté sur la plage.

The crab walks sideways on the beach.

Core concept

A broad-shelled coastal animal that moves sideways on jointed legs and uses two pincers.

Common phrases

  • attraper un crabe

    catch a crab

  • un crabe de mer

    a sea crab

  • chair de crabe

    crab meat

Similar words

crevette: A small, slender crustacean widely used in cooking as seafood.
poisson: A finned aquatic animal commonly used as food.
crustacé: A broad group of aquatic animals with hard shells or claws.
homard: A large clawed crustacean valued as a luxury food.

Definition in French

Le crabe désigne un animal marin ou côtier de la classe des crustacés, reconnaissable à sa carapace large et à ses deux pinces, souvent consommé comme aliment.

Word origin

French crabe comes through Old French and Medieval Latin crabus from Greek karabos, a name for a hard-shelled sea creature.

Usage tips

  • Crabe is masculine, so standard forms include un crabe and le crabe.

Word lists with this word