n. pl. crap·pies Either of two edible North American sunfishes, the black crappie or the white crappie. Also called speckled perch. [Canadian French crapet, any of various North American fishes of the sunfish family, possibly from crapet, impish child, child that is difficult to hold (perhaps applied to the fish because they have spines that make them difficult to handle); possibly akin to regional French (northern France) crapet, dirty child : Middle French crappe, grime (back-formation (with es- taken as Old French es-, out, away, from Latin ex-, ex-) from Old French escrapper, to clean by scraping; see CRAP1) + French -et, diminutive suffix; see -ET.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.