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• chinook salmon
  chinook salmon

  noun

  a large salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, found in the North Pacific Ocean.
• Chinook salmon
  Chinook salmon

  noun

  a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, valued as a food fish

chinook salmon

American  

[shi-nook sam-uhn, -nook, chi-] / ʃɪˈnʊk ˈsæm ən, -ˈnuk, tʃɪ- /

noun

1. a large salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, found in the North Pacific Ocean.

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Chinook salmon British  

noun

1. Also called: quinnat salmon.   king salmon.  a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, valued as a food fish

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Etymology

Origin of chinook salmon

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

The water quality standards, which focus on a portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta watershed, set goals for increasing river flows to help populations of chinook salmon and steelhead trout, which have declined dramatically.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2024

The deaths of steelhead are an indicator of how the pumping is harming various fish species, and chinook salmon are also among the species that have been killed in recent weeks, Artis said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2024

Recent research has found 6PPD-quinone to be similarly lethal to other fish species, including brook trout, rainbow trout, chinook salmon, and white-spotted char.

From Slate • Nov. 9, 2023

Even though the orcas don’t eat the porpoises, their victims are mostly calves that are about the same size as chinook salmon.

From National Geographic • Oct. 30, 2023

He and Harry Secor had worked together to stalk the giant chinook salmon of the Dungeness River.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown