hermit crab
"hermit-crab" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hermit crab” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hermit-crab · hermit crab · English
hermit crab · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hermit crab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hermit crab” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hermit crab is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hermit crab, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is hermit crab, spelled H-E-R-M-I-T- -C-R-A-B.
Definition
- 1A decapod crustacean (not a true crab) from the superfamily Paguroidea, which salvages empty seashells or other portable objects to permanently shelter and protect its soft abdomen.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how hermit crab appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In the U.S., Akers would like to see all hermit crabs legally reclassified as exotic pets, like an alligator or an ocelot, so their sale and ownership could be regulated. To her, every crab’s life is precious.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.