Plural of crawfish; freshwater crustaceans that resemble small lobsters, also called crayfish.
From Old French 'crevisse' or 'crevice,' influenced by 'craw' (the stomach of an animal). The word spread through European languages with regional variations.
Crawfish and crayfish are the same creature, but the pronunciation shift happened because English speakers literally 'reanalyzed' the French 'crev-' sound as 'craw-' (stomach), showing how etymology evolves in real time.
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