oyster

oyster on Wikipedia

EnglishEdit

An oyster (bivalve of family Ostreidae), Ostrea edulis

Alternative formsEdit

oystre (obsolete)
erster (New York City and New Orleans)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon).

PronunciationEdit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪ.stə(ɹ)/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪ.stɚ/
Rhymes: -ɔɪstə(ɹ)
Audio (US)
(file)

NounEdit

oyster (plural oysters)

Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
- 1597-8, William Shakespeare, “Act II, Scene II”, in The Merry Wives of Windsor:
  Why, then the world's mine oyster
- 1731, Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation, 1841, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 344,
  He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
The delicate morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.
A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
oyster colour:
(colloquial, by analogy) A person who keeps secrets.
(Britain, slang) A shoplifter.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

mollusk — See also translations at clam,‎ mollusc,‎ mussel

Abenaki: als
Afrikaans: oester
Albanian: stridhe f
Arabic: مَحَار‎ m (maḥār)
Hijazi Arabic: مَحَار‎ m pl (maḥār)
Armenian: ոստրե (hy) (ostre)
Azerbaijani: istridyə
Basque: ostra
Belarusian: ву́стрыца f (vústryca)
Bengali: ঝিনুক (jhinuk)
Breton: istr
Bulgarian: стри́да (bg) f (strída)
Burmese: ကမာ (my) (ka.ma)
Catalan: ostra (ca) f
Central Melanau: tirem
Chinese:
Mandarin: 牡蠣 (zh), 牡蛎 (zh) (mǔlì), 海蠣子, 海蛎子 (hǎilìzi), 蠔子, 蚝子 (háozi), 蠔 (zh), 蚝 (zh) (háo)
Cornish: estren f
Corsican: ostrica (co) f, ostrice (co) f
Czech: ústřice f
Danish: østers c
Dutch: oester (nl) m or n
Esperanto: ostro
Estonian: auster
Faroese: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: osteri (fi)
French: huître (fr) f, huitre (fr) f (post-1990 spelling)
Georgian: ხამანწკა (xamanc̣ḳa)
German: Auster (de) f
Greek: στρείδι (el) n (streídi)
Ancient: ὄστρειον n (óstreion), τῆθος n (têthos), γλυκομαρίς f (glukomarís)
Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
Hawaiian: kio
Hebrew: צִדפָּה‎
Hindi: सीप (hi) (sīp), शुक्ति (hi) f (śukti)
Hungarian: osztriga (hu)
Icelandic: ostra (is) f
Ido: ostro (io)
Indonesian: tiram (id)
Irish: oisre (ga) m
Italian: ostrica (it) f
Japanese: 牡蠣 (ja) (かき, kaki), カキ (ja) (kaki), 真珠貝 (しんじゅがい, shinjugai)
Kazakh: устрица (wstrïca)
Khmer: ខ្យងស្មិត (kyɑɑng smǝt), ងាវ (km) (ngiev), ងាវសមុទ្រ (ngiev samot)
Kimaragang: kubili
Korean: 굴 (ko) (gul)
Kyrgyz: устрица (ustritsa)
Lao: ຫອຍນາງລົມ (hǭi nāng lom), ຫອຽນາງລົມ (hǭi nāng lom)

Latin: ostrea f
Latvian: austere f
Lithuanian: austrė (lt) f
Luxembourgish: Auster
Macedonian: острига f (ostriga)
Malagasy: masajy (mg)
Malay: tiram
Manx: ooastyr m
Maori: tio (mi)
Mi'kmaq: mntmu anim, tmtmu anim
Mohegan-Pequot: apon
Navajo: chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼígíí, chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼí íiyisígíí
Norman: hitre f
North Frisian: Skruk (Sylt)
Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian: østers (no) m
Occitan: ustra (oc) f
Old English: ostre f
Persian: گوشماهی‎ (gušmâhi), شسن‎ (šasn)
Polish: ostryga (pl) f
Portuguese: ostra (pt) f
Romanian: stridie (ro) f
Russian: у́стрица (ru) f (ústrica)
Scottish Gaelic: eisir m, oisir m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: каменица f, оштрига f

Roman: kamenica (sh) f, oštriga (sh) f
Sinhalese: බෙල්ලා (bellā)
Slovak: ustrica f
Slovene: ostriga (sl) f
Spanish: ostra (es) f
Swedish: ostron (sv)
Tagalog: talaba
Tajik: гӯшмоҳӣ (güšmohī)
Thai: หอยนางรม (th) (hɔ̌i-naang-rom), มุก (múk)
Turkish: istiridye (tr)
Turkmen: ustrisa
Ukrainian: у́стриця f (ústrycja)
Unami: sisawin
Urdu: شکتی‎ f (śukti)
Uzbek: ustritsa
Vietnamese: hàu (vi)
Volapük: hüit (vo)
Walloon: plate mosse (wa) f
Welsh: llymarch m, wystrysen f
West Coast Bajau: tigom
West Frisian: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: אויסטער‎ m (oyster)

food

Arabic: مَحَار‎ m (maḥār)
Hijazi Arabic: مَحَار‎ m pl (maḥār)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 蠔, 蚝 (hou⁴)

Mandarin: 牡蠣 (zh), 牡蛎 (zh) (mǔlì)
Finnish: osteri (fi)
French: sot-l’y-laisse (fr)
German: Pfaffenschnittchen n, Pfaffenstückchen n
Greek: στρείδι (el) n (streídi)
Japanese: 牡蠣 (ja) (かき, kaki), カキ (ja) (kaki)
Korean: 굴 (ko) (gul)
Latin: ostrea f

Macedonian: о́стрига f (óstriga), о́стриги f pl (óstrigi)
Navajo: chʼosh yoołgai bitsʼaʼígíí
Persian: گوشماهی‎ (gušmâhi), اویستر‎ (oyster)
Portuguese: marisco (pt) m
Russian: у́стрица (ru) f (ústrica)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: каменица f

Roman: kamenica (sh) f
Spanish: ostra (es) f
Swedish: ostron (sv) n
Vietnamese: hàu (vi), sò (vi)
Walloon: plate mosse (wa) f

colour

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

Finnish: osterinharmaa
Spanish: ostra (es) m

person who keeps secrets

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: muuri (fi)

Russian: за́мкнутый челове́к m (zámknutyj čelovék)
Spanish: tumba (es) f

AdjectiveEdit

oyster (comparative more oyster, superlative most oyster)

Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

VerbEdit

oyster (third-person singular simple present oysters, present participle oystering, simple past and past participle oystered)

(intransitive) To fish for oysters.

AnagramsEdit

Storey, Troyes, oystre, storey, toyers, tyroes