shellfish

shellfish — noun

1. a group of sea animals that have a hard shell covering their body, many of which

1.名詞B1
釋義

a group of sea animals that have a hard shell covering their body, many of which people eat as food — for example, crabs, oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, and lobsters

例句

The restaurant menu offers a variety of fresh shellfish, including clams and mussels.

uncountable: shellfish as a food category

Noa checks each shellfish carefully before cooking them, throwing away any that are open.

countable plural: each individual shellfish

同義詞
  • seafood

    broader term that includes fish, shellfish, and other edible sea creatures

  • molluscs

    narrower term that excludes crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, lobsters)

  • crustaceans

    narrower term that excludes molluscs (clams, oysters, mussels)

用法筆記

Countable when referring to individual animals ('a shellfish', 'three shellfish on the beach'); uncountable when referring to the food as a category ('shellfish is a common cause of food allergies'). The word covers two biologically distinct groups — molluscs (clams, oysters, mussels) and crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, lobsters) — which are grouped together for culinary and dietary purposes.

常見錯誤

❌I ate shellfishs for dinner last night.
✅I ate shellfish for dinner last night.
💡Shellfish has the same form in both singular and plural, like 'fish' or 'deer.'
❌Shellfish are a type of fish.
✅Shellfish are not fish
💡they are invertebrates with hard shells.' — Despite the name, shellfish belong to different animal groups than fish.