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.

---

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

---

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

Explanation

A salmon is a big, silver-skinned fish that lives in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Many commercial fishermen catch salmon. Salmon are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to the place they were born to spawn, or reproduce. Because they move from one place to another, salmon are famous for leaping over dams and against river tides — in fact, one theory about the word salmon says its Latin root is salire, or "to leap." There is also a color known as salmon, the pink-orange hue of a salmon's flesh.

Example Sentences

Brendan Winters, a fisherman from Sion Mills and a member of the Foyle Association of Salmon and Trout Anglers, is helping to survey the river for dead fish.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

Salmon are already under strain from warming conditions, said UAF fisheries professor Peter Westley.

From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026

“The limited reopening is a lifeline. It gives you a little bit of money,” said Vance Staplin, executive director of the nonprofit Golden State Salmon Assn.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss what this deal says about the private and public markets and try to wrap their heads around the astronomical valuations of OpenAI and SpaceX.

From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026

In Salmon Bay, just to the east, dozens of fishing boats, unused for months, sat bobbing at moorage, the paint peeling from their weathered hulls.

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

Related Words

• cardinal
• coral
• crimson
• flaming
• glowing
• maroon
• rose
• wine