octopus

octopus — noun

1. a sea animal whose soft, rounded body has eight long, bendy arms covered in smal

1.nounB1
Definition

a sea animal whose soft, rounded body has eight long, bendy arms covered in small suckers, often used to grip rocks or prey.

Example

A small octopus hid between the rocks at the bottom of the tank.

typical habitat: hiding place collocation

Mei watched an octopus change colour to match the sandy seabed.

common verb collocation: change colour

Common collocations
  • a giant octopus
  • an octopus tentacle
  • an octopus changes colour
  • an octopus squirts ink
Synonyms
  • cephalopod

    scientific term covering octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish

Usage Note

Plural is usually 'octopuses'; 'octopi' is also seen but treated as non-standard by most learner dictionaries. Distinguish from sense 2, which is uncountable and refers to the meat.

Common Mistakes

I saw two octopus at the aquarium.
I saw two octopuses at the aquarium.
countable, so plural needs an -es ending.

2. the meat of this sea animal, usually boiled, grilled, or served raw on top of ri

2.nounB2
Definition

the meat of this sea animal, usually boiled, grilled, or served raw on top of rice or salad.

Example

We ordered grilled octopus with lemon at the small taverna in Athens.

common cooking method: grilled octopus

Aunt Hana taught me to slice octopus very thinly for sushi.

uncountable: no article, no plural

Common collocations
  • grilled octopus
  • boiled octopus
  • fresh octopus
  • a plate of octopus

Usage Note

Uncountable in this sense, so no plural and no 'a/an' (compare: 'some octopus', 'a piece of octopus'). Subjects are typically chefs, restaurants, or dishes; objects are cooking verbs like 'grill', 'boil', 'chop'.

Common Mistakes

I ate two octopuses for dinner.
I ate some octopus for dinner.
when it means food, use the uncountable form.

Word family

  • octopuses
    nounB1
  • cephalopod
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These three sea animals are all cephalopods and look similar at first, but learners should keep them apart. An 'octopus' has a soft, rounded body and eight arms covered in suckers; it lives near the seabed and is famous for being clever and able to change colour. A 'squid' has a longer, torpedo-shaped body, ten limbs (eight arms plus two longer tentacles), and swims fast through open water; it is the usual ingredient in dishes like calamari rings. A 'cuttlefish' looks more like a flat, oval squid, also has ten limbs, and is known for the hard internal 'cuttlebone' that pet birds chew on. So at the seafood counter, ringed slices are usually squid, soft curly arms are usually octopus, and a wide, flat body is usually cuttlefish.

octopus ↗squid ↗cuttlefish

Common collocations

Nouns

  • octopus arm
  • octopus tentacle
  • octopus ink
  • baby octopus
  • giant octopus

Phrases

  • catch an octopus
  • cook an octopus

Prepositions

  • octopus in the tank
  • octopus on the rocks

Etymology

Ancient GreekScientific LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 18th century from scientific Latin 'octopus', which itself came from Ancient Greek 'oktopous', meaning 'eight-footed' (from 'okto' meaning eight, and 'pous' meaning foot). Because the word travelled through Latin from Greek, the older Greek-style plural 'octopodes' and the Latin-style 'octopi' both appear in print, but everyday English now mostly uses the regular plural 'octopuses'.