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jilgie


noun an Australian freshwater crayfish, of the genus Cherax. Compare clawchie, crawchie, craydab, crayfish, lobby, lobster, marron, yabby. Also, gilgie, gulgie. [from the Aboriginal language Nyungar (south-western WA)]

Contributor's comments: [What is called] a yabbie in the Eastern States: "Have you caught any jilgies?"

Contributor's comments: Growing up in the fifties and sixties in Perth, everyone called a yabby a gilgie - I always regarded yabby as a shibboleth for an eastern stater but I believe the word now has some frequency in the west. Having been gone for over thirty years I am no longer in a position to detemine exactly what inroads yabby has made.

Contributor's comments: Jilgies are a separate species from Marron which are much larger and Yabbies which are not native to WA.