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Added 9 October 2026

crab

/kɹæb/ noun

In Latin: cancer Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about crab at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Decapod having eyes on short stalks and a broad flattened carapace with a small abdomen folded under the thorax and pincers.
A quarrelsome grouch.
(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Cancer.

verb

Direct (an aircraft) into a crosswind.
Scurry sideways like a crab.
Fish for crab.

Origin

From Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba (“crab; crayfish; cancer”), from Proto-West Germanic *krabbō, from Proto-Germanic *krabbô, from *krabbōną (“to scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *grobʰeh₂yéti (“to scratch”), a metathesised o-grade of *gerbʰ- (“to carve, scratch”). More at carve. Cognates See also Dutch krab, Low German Krabb, Danish krabbe, Swedish krabba. Further cognates with frequentative-infix are Saterland Frisian krabbelje (“to creep, crawl”), Dutch krabbelen (“to scratch”) and German krabbeln (“to crawl”). Possibly related to English creep and Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”) etc.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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