an elongated, marine, gadid food fish, Molva molva, of Greenland and northern Europe.
the burbot.
any of various other elongated food fishes.
derogatory a person or thing belonging to or associated with the group, activity, or quality specified
nestling
underling
used as a diminutive
duckling
any of several gadoid food fishes of the northern coastal genus Molva, esp M. molva, having an elongated body with long fins
another name for burbot
What does -ling mean? The suffix -ling has two distinct senses. The first of these senses is to form nouns meaning “one concerned with” and/or "little." This form of -ling is occasionally used in a variety of everyday terms. It is sometimes used to be pejorative or insulting. The suffix -ling comes from Old English, in which it was used to create nouns meaning "one concerned with."The second of these senses is to form adverbs describing direction, position, or state of being. This form of -ling is very rarely used in a variety of obscure terms. The suffix -ling in this sense comes from Old English -ling, in which it was used to indicate direction.
1250–1300; Middle English ling, lenge; cognate with Dutch leng; akin to long 1, Old Norse langa
1325–75; Middle English lyng < Old Norse lyng
Middle English, Old English; cognate with German -ling, Old Norse -lingr, Gothic -lings; see -le, -ing 1
Middle English, Old English; adv. use of gradational variant lang long 1
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Hope Community Project set up the pantry at Ling House in Heath Town during the pandemic, to support struggling families to have access to food and support.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
In total, Ajinomoto is recalling nearly 37 million pounds of food sold under the Kroger, Ling Ling, Tai Pei and Trader Joe’s labels, as well as under its house Ajinomoto brand, according to the statement.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2026
"I believe he is a man of profound integrity. His unwavering resolve, his composure, his utter candour -- such qualities would grant him spiritual freedom even within prison walls," Ling said.
From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026
"Clicktetrazine dECM-alginate hydrogels for injectable, mechanically mimetic, and biologically active vocal fold biomaterials" by Mika Brown,Hideaki Okuyama, Ling Li, Zhen Yang, Jianyu Li, Maryam Tabrizian and Nicole Li-Jessen was published in Biomaterials.
From Science Daily • Jan. 2, 2026
“Now, what exactly will you do to keep May Ling ‘connected to her birth culture,’ as you put it?”
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
