crabbe

See also: Crabbe

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English crabba, from Proto-West Germanic *krabbō, from Proto-Germanic *krabbô.

Alternative forms

• crabb, crab

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrab(ə)/

Noun

crabbe (plural crabbes or crabben)

2. crab (kind of crustacean)
3. A crayfish, lobster or similar crustacean.
4. (astronomy) Cancer (constellation)

Derived terms

• crabbed

Descendants

• English: crab
• Scots: crab, craib

References

• “crab(be, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.

Etymology 2

Of Germanic origin, perhaps influenced by sense 1 or the adjective crabbed and altered from Scots and northern English scrab, of the same meaning, plausibly ultimately from North Germanic, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba, krabbäpple.^[1]

Alternative forms

• crab, scrabbe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrab(ə)/, /ˈskrab(ə)/

Noun

crabbe (plural crabbes or crabben)

2. A crabapple tree.
3. A crabapple fruit.

Descendants

• English: crab, scrab
• Scots: scrab

References

• “crab(be, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.
• “scrabbe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.

1. Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Norman

Alternative forms

• crabe (Jersey)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse krabbi.

Noun

crabbe f (plural crabbes)

1. (Guernsey) crab