What does it mean to dream about crab?
A crab often stands for guardedness and sideways movement, a hard shell over a soft inside, or an indirect way of approaching things.
Four ways to read it
Each reading below comes from a named tradition and a cited source, so you can see where it came from and decide what fits your dream.
Freud
Freud might read the hard shell and pincers as defences around a tender, hidden wish. Sidling rather than facing forward could picture an indirect approach to desire. He would invite your own associations.
After Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Brill trans., 1913), public domain.Jung
For Jung the crab can image a protected, instinctual self that moves obliquely and clings when threatened. Its shell speaks of a needed boundary, its claws of a way to keep others at arm's length.
Jungian concept (our summary).Modern
A continuity reading sees the crab reflecting recent defensiveness or a roundabout approach to a problem. The dream often mirrors a wish to protect a soft spot.
Continuity hypothesis (our summary).Mythological
In old star lore the crab marks a sign of the zodiac and the turning point of the sun's year. Some myths cast it as a small, stubborn creature that holds its ground.
Rosmerta Publishing editorial synthesis (after Bulfinch).