lobster

English

A lobster (noun sense 1)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old English loppestre

Middle English loppestere

English lobster

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Northern England, Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒb.stə/
• (Standard Southern British, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔb.stə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑb.stɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒb.stɚ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔb.stəɾ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒb.stə/, [ˈlɔ̟b.stə] ~ [ˈlɞ̠b.stə]
• Rhymes: -ɒbstə(ɹ)

Noun

lobster (countable and uncountable, plural lobsters)

2. 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.
3. Various other crustaceans that resemble true lobsters:
   1. A spiny lobster, also called the rock lobster, a crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.
   2. A slipper lobster (a crustacean of the family Scyllaridae).
   3. A squat lobster.
4. (slang, historical) A soldier or officer of the imperial British Army (due to their red or scarlet uniform).
   • 1912, Ralph Davol, Two Men of Taunton: In the Course of Human Events, 1731-1829, page 214:

     […] how the troops came marching out for evening exercise under Captain Preston; how pedestrians and street urchins taunted them, shouting "Lobsters," "Bloody-backs," and flinging snow-balls, turnips, […]

5. (slang) An Australian twenty-dollar note, due to its reddish-orange colour.

Synonyms

• (crustacean): sea locust
• (British soldier): lobsterback, redcoat

Hyponyms

• (crustacean in Palinuridae): cray, langouste, spiny lobster, rock lobster

Derived terms

• American lobster (Homarus americanus)
• Andaman lobster (Metanephrops andamanicus)
• Arafura lobster (Metanephrops arafurensis)
• Bermuda lobster (Panulirus argus)
• bight lobster (Metanephrops boschmai)
• blue lobster (Procambarus alleni)
• California lobster (Panulirus interruptus)
• Cape lobster (Homarinus capensis)
• Caribbean lobster (Metanephrops binghami)
• China lobster (Metanephrops sinensis)
• clawed lobster (Nephropidae spp.)
• common lobster
• European lobster (Homarus gammarus)
• fan lobster (Ibacinae spp.)
• Formosa lobster (Metanephrops formosanus)
• furry lobster (Palinurellus spp.)
• globster
• Japanese lobster (Metanephrops japonicus)
• land lobster (Dryococelus australis)
• lazy lobster
• lobsterback
• lobsterboat
• lobster box
• lobster caterpillar (Stauropus alternus)
• lobster clasp
• lobster claw
• lobsterdom
• lobsterer
• lobsterette
• lobsterish
• lobsterless
• lobsterlike
• lobsterling
• lobster louse (Nicothoe astaci)
• lobsterman
• lobster moth (Stauropus alternus)
• lobster mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum)
• lobster Newberg
• lobster palace
• lobsterperson
• lobster pot
• lobster pound
• lobster prominent
• lobster roll
• lobster sauce
• lobsterscope
• lobster scorpion (Heterometrus swammerdami)
• lobster shift
• lobster sloop
• lobster-tailed pot
• lobster-tail pot
• lobster thermidor
• lobster trap
• lobsterwoman
• lobstery
• Maine lobster (Homarus americanus)
• mitten lobster (Parribacus spp.)
• mole lobster (Palinurellus wieneckii)
• mud lobster (Axiidea spp. and Gebiidea spp.)
• Neptune lobster (Metanephrops neptunus)
• New Zealand lobster (Metanephrops challengeri)
• northwest lobster (Metanephrops australiensis)
• Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus)
• poor man's lobster
• raw lobster
• reef lobster (Enoplometopus spp.)
• rock lobster (Palinuridae spp.)
• scorpion lobster (Eiconaxius andamanensis)
• sculpted lobster (Metanephrops sagamiensis)
• Siboga lobster (Metanephrops sibogae)
• slipper lobster (Scyllaridae spp.)
• spiny lobster (Palinuridae spp.)
• squat lobster (Galatheoidea spp. and Chirostyloidea spp.)
• the world is one's lobster
• tree lobster (Dryococelus australis)
• true lobster (Homarus americanus)
• unboiled lobster
• velvet lobster (Metanephrops velutinus)
• white lobster
• yeti lobster

Descendants

• → French: lobster
• → Hebrew: לוֹבְּסְטֶר
• → Hindi: लॉब्स्टर (lŏbsṭar)
• → Japanese: ロブスター
• → Russian: ло́бстер (lóbster)
• → South Levantine Arabic: لوبستر (lōbster)
• → Thai: ล็อบสเตอร์ (lɔ́ps-dtə̂ə)
• → Ukrainian: ло́бстер (lóbster)
• → Urdu: لابسٹر (lābsṭar)
• → Yiddish: לאָבסטער (lobster)

Translations

crustacean

• Abenaki: sôga
• Afrikaans: kreef (af)
• Agta:

  Dupaningan Agta: lobugen

• Albanian: karavidhe (sq) f, gaforre e madhe f
• Arabic: كَرْكَنْد m (karkand)

  Egyptian Arabic: استاكوزا (ʔistakōza)

  Gulf Arabic: أم الربيان (umm al-rubiyān) (Qatar)

  South Levantine Arabic: لوبستر (lōbster) (from English)

• Armenian: օմար (hy) (ōmar)
• Assamese: ডাঙৰ মিছামাছ (daṅor misamas)
• Asturian: llocántaru (ast) m, bugre (ast) m
• Awutu: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: xərçəng (az), omar
• Basque: otarraina
• Belarusian: ама́р m (amár)
• Bengali: গলদা (bn) (golda)
• Bhojpuri: झींगा (jhīṅgā)
• Bonggi: kulakng
• Breton: legestr (br) m
• Bulgarian: ома́р (bg) m (omár)
• Burmese: ပုဇွန်ထုတ်ကြီး (pu.jwanhtutkri:)
• Catalan: llagosta (ca) f, llamàntol (ca) m (European lobster), escamarlà (ca) m (Norwegian lobster)
• Cebuano: banagan
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 龍蝦 / 龙虾 (lung⁴ haa¹)

  Mandarin: 龍蝦 / 龙虾 (zh) (lóngxiā), 海螯蝦 / 海螯虾 (hǎiáoxiā)

  Wu: 龍蝦 / 龙虾

• Cornish: legest m
• Corsican: gàmbaru
• Czech: humr (cs) m
• Danish: hummer c
• Dhivehi: އިހި (ihi)
• Dutch: zeekreeft (nl) f, kreeft (nl) f, hommer (nl) m
• Esperanto: omaro
• Estonian: homaar
• Faroese: hummari m
• Finnish: hummeri (fi)
• French: (with claws) homard (fr) m, (without claws) langouste (fr) f
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: kreeft c

• Galician: lumbrigante (gl) m, lubrigante m, lagosta (gl) f
• Georgian: ასთაკვი (astaḳvi), კიბო (ḳibo), ლობსტერი (lobsṭeri)
• German: Hummer (de) m
• Greek: αστακός (el) m (astakós)

  Ancient Greek: ἀστακός m (astakós), κάμμαρος m (kámmaros)

• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} tuku

• Guianese Creole: omar
• Haitian Creole: oma
• Hawaiian: ula
• Hebrew: לוֹבְּסְטֶר (he) m (lóbster) (from English)
• Hiligaynon: karitot, kiritot, lukon
• Hindi: झींगा मछली f (jhīṅgā machlī)
• Hungarian: homár (hu)
• Icelandic: humar (is) m
• Ido: homardo (io)
• Indonesian: udang laut, lobster (id)
• Ingrian: krapu
• Interlingua: homaro
• Irish: gliomach (ga) m
• Italian: astice (it) m, aragosta (it) f, gambero di mare m, lupicante m
• Japanese: 伊勢海老 (ja) (ise ebi), イセエビ (ja) (ise ebi), オーマル (ōmaru) ロブスター (ja) (robusutā)
• Kazakh: омар (omar)
• Khmer: បង្កងសមុទ្រ (bɑngkɑɑng saʼmot), បង្កងសៅទាវ (bɑngkɑɑng saw tiəw)
• Kongo: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 가재 (ko) (gajae), 바닷가재 (ko) (badatgajae)
• Kyrgyz: омар (ky) (omar)
• Lao: ກຸ້ງໃຫຍ່ (kung h), ໂກ່ມ (kōm)
• Latin: cammarus m, astacus m
• Latvian: omārs m
• Lithuanian: omaras m
• Luxembourgish: Homard (lb), Hummer
• Macedonian: ја́стог m (jástog)
• Malay: udang kara, bekara (Labuan, Brunei)
• Malayalam: കൊഞ്ച് (ml) (koñcŭ)
• Maltese: awwista f
• Manx: gimmagh m
• Maranao: odang
• Marathi: शेवंडी f (śevaṇḍī)
• Mauritian Creole: omar
• Middle English: loppestere
• Mi'kmaq: jagej anim
• Mizo: kaikuang
• Navajo: tónteel chʼoshtsoh bíláshgaantsohí
• Norman: honmard m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hummer (no) m

  Nynorsk: hummar f

• Occitan: ligombau (oc)
• Old English: loppestre f
• Persian: خرچنگ دریایی (xarčang-e daryâyi), روبیان (fa) (rubiyân)
• Plautdietsch: Humma m
• Polish: homar (pl) m
• Portuguese: lagosta (pt) f
• Romanian: homar (ro) m
• Russian: ома́р (ru) m (omár), ло́бстер (ru) m (lóbstɛr)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can

• Scots: lapster
• Scottish Gaelic: giomach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ја̏стог m, хла̑п m

  Latin: jȁstog (sh) m, hlȃp (sh) m

• Slovak: morský rak m
• Slovene: jástog (sl) m
• Somali: argoosto, xayawaan (so)
• Spanish: langosta (es) f, bogavante (es) m, pigua f (Mexico), lobagante (es) m, lubigante m, llocántaro m (Spain)
• Subanen:

  Lapuyan Subanun: gbenalan

• Swedish: hummer (sv) c
• Tagalog: ulang
• Tajik: харчанги баҳрӣ (xarčang-i bahri)
• Thai: กุ้งมังกร (gûng-mang-gɔɔn), ล็อบสเตอร์ (lɔ́ps-dtə̂ə)
• Tongan: uo
• Turkish: ıstakoz (tr)
• Turkmen: omar
• Ukrainian: ома́р (uk) m (omár), ло́бстер m (lóbster)
• Urdu: لابسٹر (lābsṭar)
• Uyghur: چوڭ راك (chong rak)
• Uzbek: omar
• Vietnamese: tôm hùm (vi), tôm rồng (vi)
• Volapük: humar (vo)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Waray-Waray: banagan
• Welsh: cimwch (cy) m, cimychiaid pl
• Woiwurrung: kur-rite, darrak(-burrong), duyang, bunggan-gulum
• Yiddish: ראַק m (rak), האָמאַר m (homar), (US) לאָבסטער m (lobster)
• Zhuang: duzlungzyah

Verb

lobster (third-person singular simple present lobsters, present participle lobstering, simple past and past participle lobstered)

1. To fish for lobsters.

Translations

To fish for lobsters

Adjective

lobster (comparative more lobster, superlative most lobster)

1. Red-colored, especially from a sunburn.

   Synonym: red as a lobster

See also

• crawfish
• crayfish
• mudbug
• prawn
• shrimp
• yabby
• 🦞

Anagrams

• trobles, Bolster, Strobel, Bolters, Stroble, Bortles, rebolts, bolters, orblets, reblots, bolster

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English lobster.

Pronunciation

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [lɔbstær], [lɔbstə], [lɑbstəɹ]

Noun

lobster m (plural lobsters)

1. (Louisiana) lobster (a crustacean of the Nephropidae, or Homaridae, family)

   Synonym: homard m

2. (Louisiana) a very large shrimp; a prawn

Further reading

• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lobster.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈlobstər/ [ˈlobs.t̪ər]
• Rhymes: -obstər
• Syllabification: lobs‧ter

Noun

lobster (plural lobster-lobster)

1. (cooking, zoology) lobster

   Synonyms: bekara, udang barong, udang karang

Further reading

• “lobster”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016
• Tantri Miharti; Kurniawati; Dewi Eka Arini Algozi (2019), Kamus Tata Boga [Culinary Arts Dictionary] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan Bahasa dan Perbukuan, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, →ISBN, page 56