lobster
/ˈlɔb.stə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.65 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a seafood.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A soldier or officer of the imperial British Army (due to their red or scarlet uniform).
Countable; Slang; Uncountable
noun
An Australian twenty-dollar note, due to its reddish-orange colour.
Countable; Slang; Uncountable
adj
Red-colored, especially from a sunburn.
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster). Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop + -ster.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: loppestere, loppestre, lō̆custa, -, lobbe
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlɔb.stə/
- British English: /ˈlɒb.stə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
lobsters (plural)
lobsters (present, singular)
lobstering (participle, present)
lobstered (participle, past)
lobstered (past)
more lobster (comparative)
most lobster (superlative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
American lobster
Andaman lobster
Arafura lobster
Bermuda lobster
bight lobster
blue lobster
California lobster
Cape lobster