Lobster

How to spell lobster

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lobster

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lobster mean?

1. nounA large edible marine crustacean with a hard shell, two large front claws, and a long jointed body.

Lobster in a sentence

• The restaurant serves grilled lobster with melted butter.

• A fresh lobster turns bright red once it is cooked.

Where does lobster come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Lobster comes from the Old English loppestre or lopystre, the name for the large marine crustacean. That word was itself an adaptation of the Latin locusta, which curiously meant both 'lobster' and 'locust', presumably because the long, jointed, armoured body of the sea creature reminded Romans of the leggy insect. As the Latin word was absorbed into early English, its sound was reshaped under the influence of the native Old English word loppe, meaning 'spider', which is how the p turned into a b and the ending settled as -ster. The spelling therefore hides a Latin locust inside what looks like a thoroughly English word. The modern form has been stable since the medieval period, and the silent overlap of b and s in the middle is the only mild trap for a confident speller.

How the word is built

• lobst- (from Old English loppestre, itself from Latin locusta: lobster, locust)
• -er (agent/noun ending)