oyster

English

An oyster (bivalve of family Ostreidae), Ostrea edulis

Alternative forms

• oystre (obsolete)
• erster (New York City and New Orleans)

Etymology

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪ.stə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪ.stɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪstə(ɹ)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

oyster (plural oysters)

1. Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
   • 1597-8, William Shakespeare, “Act II, Scene II”, in The Merry Wives of Windsor:

     Why, then the world's mine oyster

   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation, 1841, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 344,

     He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

2. The delicate morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.
3. A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

   oyster colour:  

4. (colloquial, by analogy) A person who keeps secrets.
5. (Britain, slang) A shoplifter.

Derived terms

• Belon oyster
• corn oyster
• eastern oyster
• king oyster mushroom
• mountain oyster
• Olympic oyster
• oyster ball
• oysterbank
• oyster bed
• Oyster card
• oystercatcher
• oyster crab
• oyster cracker
• oyster drill
• oyster farm
• oysterfish
• oysterish
• oyster knife
• oysterless
• oysterlike
• oysterling
• oysterman
• oyster mushroom
• oyster pink
• oyster plant
• oyster Rockefeller
• oyster sauce
• oyster shell scale
• oyster shooter
• oysters Kilpatrick
• oysters rockefeller
• oyster white
• oyster wife
• oysterwoman
• oystery
• Pacific oyster
• pearl oyster
• pilgrim oyster
• prairie oyster
• Rocky Mountain oyster
• scalloped oyster
• seed oyster
• spiny oyster
• Sydney rock oyster
• the world is one's oyster
• thorny oyster
• tree oyster
• vegetable oyster
• Viennese oyster
• windowpane oyster
• woods oyster

 

Translations

mollusk — See also translations at clam,‎ mollusc,‎ mussel

• Abenaki: als
• Afrikaans: oester
• Albanian: stridhe f
• Arabic: مَحَار‎ m (maḥār)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَحَار‎ m pl (maḥār)

• Armenian: ոստրե (hy) (ostre)
• Azerbaijani: istridyə
• Basque: ostra
• Belarusian: ву́стрыца f (vústryca)
• Bengali: ঝিনুক (jhinuk)
• Breton: istr
• Bulgarian: стри́да (bg) f (strída)
• Burmese: ကမာ (my) (ka.ma)
• Catalan: ostra (ca) f
• Central Melanau: tirem
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 牡蠣 (zh), 牡蛎 (zh) (mǔlì), 海蠣子, 海蛎子 (hǎilìzi), 蠔子, 蚝子 (háozi), 蠔 (zh), 蚝 (zh) (háo)

• Cornish: estren f
• Corsican: ostrica (co) f, ostrice (co) f
• Czech: ústřice f
• Danish: østers c
• Dutch: oester (nl) m, n
• Esperanto: ostro
• Estonian: auster
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: osteri (fi)
• French: huître (fr) f, huitre (fr) f (post-1990 spelling)
• Georgian: ხამანწკა (xamanc̣ḳa)
• German: Auster (de) f
• Greek: στρείδι (el) n (streídi)

  Ancient: ὄστρειον n (óstreion), τῆθος n (têthos), γλυκομαρίς f (glukomarís)

• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: kio
• Hebrew: צִדפָּה‎
• Hindi: सीप (hi) (sīp), शुक्ति (hi) f (śukti)
• Hungarian: osztriga (hu)
• Icelandic: ostra (is) f
• Ido: ostro (io)
• Indonesian: tiram (id)
• Irish: oisre (ga) m
• Italian: ostrica (it) f
• Japanese: 牡蠣 (ja) (かき, kaki), カキ (ja) (kaki), 真珠貝 (しんじゅがい, shinjugai)
• Kazakh: устрица (wstrïca)
• Khmer: ខ្យងស្មិត (kyɑɑng smǝt), ងាវ (km) (ngiev), ងាវសមុទ្រ (ngiev samot)
• Kimaragang: kubili
• Korean: 굴 (ko) (gul)
• Kyrgyz: устрица (ustritsa)
• Lao: ຫອຍນາງລົມ (hǭi nāng lom), ຫອຽນາງລົມ (hǭi nāng lom)

• Latin: ostrea f
• Latvian: austere f
• Lithuanian: austrė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Auster
• Macedonian: острига f (ostriga)
• Malagasy: masajy (mg)
• Malay: tiram
• Manx: ooastyr m
• Maori: tio (mi)
• Mi'kmaq: mntmu anim, tmtmu anim
• Mohegan-Pequot: apon
• Navajo: chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼígíí, chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼí íiyisígíí
• Norman: hitre f
• North Frisian: Skruk (Sylt)
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: østers (no) m
• Occitan: ustra (oc) f
• Old English: ostre f
• Persian: گوشماهی‎ (gušmâhi), شسن‎ (šasn)
• Polish: ostryga (pl) f
• Portuguese: ostra (pt) f
• Romanian: stridie (ro) f
• Russian: у́стрица (ru) f (ústrica)
• Scottish Gaelic: eisir m, oisir m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каменица f, оштрига f

  Roman: kamenica (sh) f, oštriga (sh) f

• Sinhalese: බෙල්ලා (bellā)
• Slovak: ustrica f
• Slovene: ostriga (sl) f
• Spanish: ostra (es) f
• Swedish: ostron (sv)
• Tagalog: talaba
• Tajik: гӯшмоҳӣ (güšmohī)
• Thai: หอยนางรม (th) (hɔ̌i-naang-rom), มุก (múk)
• Turkish: istiridye (tr)
• Turkmen: ustrisa
• Ukrainian: у́стриця f (ústrycja)
• Unami: sisawin
• Urdu: شکتی‎ f (śukti)
• Uzbek: ustritsa
• Vietnamese: hàu (vi)
• Volapük: hüit (vo)
• Walloon: plate mosse (wa) f
• Welsh: llymarch m, wystrysen f
• West Coast Bajau: tigom
• West Frisian: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: אויסטער‎ m (oyster)

food

• Arabic: مَحَار‎ m (maḥār)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَحَار‎ m pl (maḥār)

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蠔, 蚝 (hou⁴)

  Mandarin: 牡蠣 (zh), 牡蛎 (zh) (mǔlì)

• Finnish: osteri (fi)
• French: sot-l’y-laisse (fr)
• German: Pfaffenschnittchen n, Pfaffenstückchen n
• Greek: στρείδι (el) n (streídi)
• Japanese: 牡蠣 (ja) (かき, kaki), カキ (ja) (kaki)
• Korean: 굴 (ko) (gul)
• Latin: ostrea f

• Macedonian: о́стрига f (óstriga), о́стриги f pl (óstrigi)
• Navajo: chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼígíí
• Persian: گوشماهی‎ (gušmâhi), اویستر‎ (oyster)
• Portuguese: marisco (pt) m
• Russian: у́стрица (ru) f (ústrica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каменица f

  Roman: kamenica (sh) f

• Spanish: ostra (es) f
• Swedish: ostron (sv) n
• Vietnamese: hàu (vi), sò (vi)
• Walloon: plate mosse (wa) f

colour

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: osterinharmaa
• Spanish: ostra (es) m

person who keeps secrets

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: muuri (fi)

• Russian: за́мкнутый челове́к m (zámknutyj čelovék)
• Spanish: tumba (es) f

Adjective

oyster (comparative more oyster, superlative most oyster)

1. Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

Verb

oyster (third-person singular simple present oysters, present participle oystering, simple past and past participle oystered)

1. (intransitive) To fish for oysters.

See also

• astragalus
• bluepoint
• carpetbag steak
• clam
• lungwort
• mussel
• Ostreidae
• salsify
• spat
• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• Storey, Troyes, oystre, storey, toyers, tyroes