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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chinook salmon Chinook salmon

But high numbers of brown pelican deaths, and major declines in California’s chinook salmon populations, have many concerned about broader ecosystem troubles.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2024

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

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

Chinook salmon have been laying eggs in gravelly nests in the Sacramento River for millennia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The plan also includes limits on the total number of fall-run Chinook salmon that may be caught during the season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026

We’re not like the Chinook salmon that seek out upriver spawning zones or feline species that go into heat each spring and summer.

From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2025

Populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, Delta smelt and other species have been declining in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025

"It's Royal Chinook salmon that I caught in the fish derby on the Columbia River only last—" Mrs. MacDonald colored suddenly.

From The House from Nowhere by Arthur G. Stangland

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