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• alec
  alec

  noun

  a herring.
• Alec
  Alec

  noun

  a first name, form of Alexander.

alec

¹ American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

noun

Obsolete.

1. a herring.

2. a sauce or relish made from small herring or anchovies.

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alec ² American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

noun

Australian.

1. a simpleton or fool.

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Alec ³ American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

Or Aleck

noun

1. a first name, form of Alexander.

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Etymology

Origin of alec¹

1510–20; < Latin ( h ) al ( l ) ec fish sauce

Origin of alec²

1920–25; cf. smart aleck ( def. ); sense shift perhaps originally from ironic usage

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

alec Alec

Sometimes Alex is a smart alec: the chapter sending up his academy school and peer group reads like the revenge of the nerd.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 15, 2013

Obviously a smart alec statement, insinuating that Mooney talked for publicity's sake alone, instead of for a cause in which he sincerely believes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Seneca reproaches them with this refinement of cruelty—“Oculis quoque gulosi sunt;” and the most renowned of Apicius’s culinary discoveries was the alec, a compound of their livers.

From Curiosities of Medical Experience by J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen

Hootsey could not be sure if Nibbles was being a "smart alec" or was just paying him a complement.

From The Forest Monster of Oz by Bob Evans

Alec Ginsberg, a fourth-generation pharmacist who owns C.O.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

She starred in films alongside Alec Guinness, Fred Astaire and Peter O'Toole and appeared in musicals in New York and London.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

That name — “dolores,” meaning sorrows — “seemed appropriate given what was to come,” San Francisco historian Alec Scott told me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Alec Litowitz, the Citadel founder and the founder of hedge fund Magnetar, owns shares through his Chicago-area investment firm Qstar, according to PitchBook.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

“Well,” added Alec, turning a neat cartwheel, “whatever she can’t see under, she overlooks.”

From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster