salmon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: să'mən
ipa: /ˈsæmən/
rhymes: -æmən
ipa: /ˈsælmən/
ipa: /ˈsɑmən/
note: Dublin
ipa: /ˈsamən/
note: Dublin
ipa: /ˈsæmən/
ipa: /ˈsalmən/
ipa: /ˈsalmon/
Forms: form: salmon
form: salmons
Etymology: From Middle English samoun, samon, saumon, from Anglo-Norman saumon, from Old French saumon, from Latin salmō, salmōn-. Widely displaced native Middle English lax, from Old English leax (whence modern dialectal lax). The unpronounced l was later inserted to make the word appear closer to its Latin root (compare words like debt, indict, receipt for the same spelling Latinizations).
The verb sense “ride a bicycle the wrong way down a one-way street” alludes to salmon swimming upstream against the flow of a river to spawn.
Senses: examples: text: grilled salmon
text: salmon paté
text: salmon steak
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
synonyms: lax
lox
glosses: One of several species of fish, typically of the Salmoninae subfamily, brownish above with silvery sides and delicate pinkish-orange flesh; they ascend rivers to spawn.
glosses: A meal or dish made from this fish.
synonyms: salmon pink
qualifier: plural salmons
glosses: A pale pinkish-orange colour, the colour of cooked salmon.
glosses: The upper bricks in a kiln which receive the least heat.
examples: text: Got any salmon?
ref: 1992, “Ebeneezer Goode”, performed by The Shamen:
glosses: snout (tobacco; from salmon and trout)
examples: text: Tinned mackerel is confusingly called ‘salmon’ in Sri Lanka. So this dish, in Sinhalese, is salmon hodi, or salmon in gravy. Now that I think on it, all tinned fish in Sri Lanka is called salmon.
ref: 2018 July 29, Chath Ginige, “Spicy Mackerel Curry”, in akkis kitchen (blog), archived from the original on 23 Jul 2019:
text: With a thick gravy made up of onions, tomatoes, spices, and coconut milk this Sri Lankan salmon curry might breathe new life to those canned mackerels on your shelf.
ref: 2018, Jehan Yusoof, “Sri Lankan canned fish curry(tin fish).”, in Island Smile (blog), archived from the original on 18 Jun 2025:
text: We manufacture canned markerel fish (salmon)
ref: 2023 April 25, u/LNPOVCO, “What is the liquid in local canned salmon tins?”, in Reddit, r/srilanka:
glosses: canned fish, usually mackerel.
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: Atlantic salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Australian salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: bay salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Gonorynchus spp.
word: beaked salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: black salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus nerka
word: blueback salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Lasiodora parahybana
word: Brazilian salmon pink tarantula
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Burnett salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: caplin-scull salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus masou
word: cherry salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Chinook salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
word: chinook salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus keta
word: chum salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus kisutch
word: coho salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: colonial salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Cornish salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Hucho hucho
word: Danube salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Scleropages leichardti
word: Dawson river salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus keta
word: dog salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: fresh-water salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Aaptosyax grypus
word: giant salmon carp
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: humpbacked salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
word: humpback salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: jack salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: kelp salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: king-of-the-salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: King Salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
word: king salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus nerka
word: kokanee salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: landlocked salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: land-locked salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: lomilomi salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: lomi salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Nova Scotia salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: outside salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus spp.
word: Pacific salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
word: pink salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
word: quinnat salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus nerka
word: red salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: rock salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: saber-toothed salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon and trout
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Mastigodryas melanolomus
word: salmon-bellied racer
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Rubus spectabilis
word: salmonberry
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon bites
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon caviar
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon-coloured
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Cacatua moluccensis
word: salmon-crested cockatoo
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon day
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Eucalyptus spp.
word: salmon gum
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmonid
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon killer
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon ladder
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon leap
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon peel
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon pink
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: Salmon River
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: salmon river
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Lamna ditropis
word: salmon shark
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Limnodynastes salmini
word: salmon-striped swamp frog
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo gairdneri
word: salmon trout
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: sea salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: Sebago salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Salmo salar
word: silver salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: smoked salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: smoked salmon socialist
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus nerka
word: sockeye salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
word: spring salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
taxonomic: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
word: Tyee salmon
sense: terms derived from salmon (noun)
word: white salmon
Related terms: samlet