lobster
/ˈlɑb.stɚ/noun, verb, adjective
lobster is spelled L-O-B-S-T-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lobster means “A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lobster is lobsters.
How many letters and syllables are in lobster?
| Letters | 7: L-O-B-S-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is lobster?
Lobster appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lobster?
- UK /ˈlɒb.stə/
- British /ˈlɔb.stə/
- US /ˈlɑb.stɚ/
Lobster has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-lobster.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with lobster?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lobster from its last stressed vowel (/ɑbstəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bolster.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of lobster
- lobsters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- lobstering participle, present
- lobstered participle, past
- more lobster comparative
- most lobster superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lobster mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a seafood.
- 2
A spiny lobster, also called the rock lobster, a crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.
- 3
A slipper lobster (a crustacean of the family Scyllaridae).
- 4
A squat lobster.
- 5
slangA soldier or officer of the imperial British Army (due to their red or scarlet uniform).
- 6
slangAn Australian twenty-dollar note, due to its reddish-orange colour.
verb
- 1
To fish for lobsters.
adjective
- 1
Red-colored, especially from a sunburn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lobster in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense crustacean:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | homard, langouste |
| German | Hummer |
| Portuguese | lagosta |
| Spanish | langosta, bogavante, pigua, lobagante, lubigante, llocántaro |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lobster come from?
From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster). Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop + -ster.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).