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salmon

Pronunciation: /ˈsamən/
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Definition of salmon

noun (plural same)

  • 1a large edible fish that is a popular sporting fish, much prized for its pink flesh. Salmon mature in the sea but migrate to freshwater streams to spawn.
    • Family Salmonidae (the salmon family): the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), which sometimes returns to spawn two or three times, and five species of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus), which always die after spawning. The salmon family also includes trout, charr, whitefish, and their relatives
  • [mass noun] the flesh of the salmon as food.
  • 2 [usually with modifier] any of a number of fishes resembling the salmon, in particular:
    • (Australian salmon) a large green and silver fish of Australasian inshore waters, popular as a game fish (Arripis trutta, family Arripidae). a prized food fish of the drum family (Sciaenidae), in particular the Cape salmon of the Indian Ocean (Atractoscion aequidens) and sea trouts of the western Atlantic (genus Cynoscion).
  • 3 [mass noun] a pale pink colour: [as modifier]:cotton checked throw in cream and salmon pink ceanothus-clad walls of salmon brick

Derivatives

salmony

adjective

Origin:

Middle English samoun, from Anglo-Norman French saumoun, from Latin salmo, salmon-. The spelling with -l- is influenced by Latin

Spelling help

Remember that salmon is spelled with an l in the middle.

Spelling tip

salmon were leaping upstream.

salmon in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of salmon in the US English dictionary