crabby
/ˈkɹæb.i/
"crabby" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crabby” is uncommon English (frequency #55,354 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,354
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Relating to or resembling crabs; crablike.
Corpus desk
Index EN-crabby · crabby · English
crabby · rank #55,354 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,354
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH CPAP
Nearest frequency peer: CPAP (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “crabby”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cowbell
cowbell
44,649 corpus weight
- CPAP
CPAP
44,648 corpus weight
- crabby
crabby
44,647 corpus weight
- Cracow
Cracow
44,646 corpus weight
- creased
creased
44,645 corpus weight
- Cretan
Cretan
44,644 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “crabby” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crabby |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɹæb.i/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #55,354 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “crabby” in English
Rare enough to double-check
crabby is uncommon English at frequency #55,354 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkɹæb.i/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for crabby, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From crab + -y. The correct English form is crabby, spelled C-R-A-B-B-Y.
Definition
- 1Relating to or resembling crabs; crablike.
- 2Abounding with crabs.
- 3Visibly irritated or annoyed; grouchy, irritable, in a foul mood; given to complaining or finding fault in an annoyed way.
- 4Crabbed; difficult or perplexing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how crabby appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
As for animal life, this is the "Crabbiest Place in the World," where 20 land and intertidal crabs range from tiny beach dwellers to the chunky robber crabs that crack coconuts with their massive claws.
"You're not crabby, are you?" "No, no, not at all. I think I'll go."
Etymology
From crab + -y.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "crabby"?
What does "crabby" mean?
How do you pronounce "crabby"?
What is the origin of the word "crabby"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "crabby", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).