salmon

American  

[sam-uhn] / ˈsæm ən /

noun

plural

salmons,

plural

salmon

1. a marine and freshwater food fish, Salmo salar, of the family Salmonidae, having pink flesh, inhabiting waters off the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America near the mouths of large rivers, which it enters to spawn.

2. landlocked salmon.

3. any of several salmonoid food fishes of the genus Oncorhynchus, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean.

4. a light yellowish-pink.

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adjective

1. of the color salmon.

salmon British  

/ ˈsæmən /

noun

1. any soft-finned fish of the family Salmonidae, esp Salmo salar of the Atlantic and Oncorhynchus species (sockeye, Chinook, etc) of the Pacific, which are important food fishes. They occur in cold and temperate waters and many species migrate to fresh water to spawn

2. any of several unrelated fish, esp the Australian salmon

3. short for salmon pink

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Other Word Forms

• salmonlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of salmon

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English salmoun, samoun, from Anglo-French from Old French saumon, or directly from Latin salmōn-, stem of salmō

Example Sentences

Alaska's waters support one of the world's most important salmon fisheries, sustained by complex marine food webs.

From Science Daily

Perhaps it’s invited within space-time, where it swims like a salmon against the current.

From Literature

A post on social media on the day he disappeared said "10 years of island life…the sea is rising and I'm losing the appetite for farmed salmon."

From BBC

It also processes pork, chicken, lamb and salmon, and it has offset losses in its North American beef business with earnings from its other proteins and regions where it operates.

From The Wall Street Journal

Pook said the district is releasing less water from its reservoirs now, in order to preserve more for the fall when salmon migrate upriver to spawn.

From Los Angeles Times

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