shellfish
Meanings
noun
- A fisheries and colloquial term for an aquatic invertebrate having an inner or outer shell, such as a mollusc or crustacean, especially when edible.
- A culinary and nutritional term for several groups of non-piscine, non-tetrapod, aquatic animals that are used as a food source. The term often exclusively refers to edible aquatic crustaceans, bivalve mollusks and cephalopod mollusks; but sometimes echinoderms may be included as well.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English schellefyssch, from Old English sċielfisċ. Equivalent to shell + fish.
Derived words
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