Meaning & use
starfish
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A sea animal with a flat body and usually five arms spreading out from the center.
Grammar: Countable: one starfish, two starfish (or two starfishes).
Patterns
- a starfish on the beach
- starfish in a rock pool
We found a bright orange starfish on the rocks at low tide.
Starfish move slowly across the sand using hundreds of tiny tube feet.
The children were excited to see a starfish in the shallow water.
nouncountable
A star-shaped piece of something, especially a small star-shaped piece of candy or pasta.
Grammar: Countable and usually used in the plural when talking about sweets or pasta shapes.
Patterns
- starfish-shaped pasta
- a bag of starfish candies
She stirred starfish-shaped pasta into the soup.
The bakery sells little starfish cookies covered in pink icing.
Word forms
| plural | starfish |
|---|---|
| plural | starfishes |
Common combinations
- a starfish on the beach
- A starfish on the beach had dried out in the sun.
- starfish-shaped
- The cookies were starfish-shaped and covered in sugar.
- a giant starfish
- A giant starfish was clinging to the glass of the aquarium.
- spot a starfish
- If you look carefully, you can spot a starfish among the rocks.
- starfish arm
- The starfish can grow a new arm if it loses one.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sea star
- The scientific and more modern everyday name; it is preferred by biologists because a starfish is not a true fish.
- echinoderm
- A much broader scientific term for the whole group of spiny sea animals that includes starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers.
Word family
- starfish-like adjective
- Shaped or moving like a starfish, with arms spreading out from a center.
Commonly confused: starfish or shellfish? starfish or jellyfish?
starfish vs shellfish
Shellfish are sea animals with shells, such as crabs, lobsters, and oysters; a starfish has no shell and is not a fish.
starfish vs jellyfish
A jellyfish is a soft, umbrella-shaped sea animal that stings; a starfish has arms and a hard, rough surface.
Practice
Which sentence uses starfish correctly?
Choose one answer.
Starfish live in the sea and are often seen on rocks or sand, so 'on the rocks at low tide' fits. 'Starfishes swimming near the boat' is possible in grammar but unnatural because the usual plural is starfish, and flying or growing in a garden does not match where starfish live.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “starfish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.