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• roe
  roe

  noun

  the mass of eggs, or spawn, within the ovarian membrane of the female fish.
• ROE
  ROE

  return on equity.
• Roe
  Roe

  noun

  law (formerly) the defendant in a fictitious action, Doe versus Roe, to test a point of law See also Doe

roe

¹ American  

[roh] / roʊ /

noun

1. the mass of eggs, or spawn, within the ovarian membrane of the female fish.

2. the milt or sperm of the male fish.

3. the eggs of any of various crustaceans, as the coral of the lobster.

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roe ² American  

[roh] / roʊ /

noun

• roes,
  plural
• roe
  plural

1. roe deer.

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ROE ³ American  

Accounting.

1. return on equity.

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roe ¹ British  

/ rəʊ /

noun

1. short for roe deer

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roe ² British  

/ rəʊ /

noun

1. Also called: hard roe.  the ovary of a female fish filled with mature eggs

2. Also called: soft roe.  the testis of a male fish filled with mature sperm

3. the ripe ovary of certain crustaceans, such as the lobster

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Roe ³ British  

/ rəʊ /

noun

1. law (formerly) the defendant in a fictitious action, Doe versus Roe, to test a point of law See also Doe

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roe Scientific  

/ rō /

1. The eggs of a fish, often together with the membrane of the ovary in which they are held.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• roe
  plural
• roes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of roe¹

1400–50; late Middle English rowe; cognate with Old High German rogo

Origin of roe²

before 900; Middle English roo, Old English rā, rāha; cognate with German Reh

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roe ROE Roe roes

Earlier this week, an incinerated roe deer was seen lying on the blackened ground.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

The Eurasian lynx was hunted to extinction in the UK about 1,000 years ago, and campaigners argue the species should be reintroduced to north Northumberland to help control roe deer populations and improve the ecosystem.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Those egg thingies with roe were so good.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

The uni, roe, and shrimp are ready to serve.

From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025

There were spiced and pickled herring fillets, sardines, smoked eels and cod’s roe.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

This is much higher than the bank’s own goal of a “midteens” ROE, which was reiterated by CEO David Solomon during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call on Jan. 15.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026

Since this new screen is for the entire financial sector, our second factor was to limit the group of 51 companies to those with trailing ROE ranking in the upper half.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 24, 2026

CIMB’s 2025 ROE is expected at 11.2%, within management’s 11%-11.5% target, he notes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026

Growing investor confidence in the ROE target should support share-price performance ahead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026

In simplest terms, ROE answers the question: How much money does this company make relative to its stuff?

From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025

Reports of his end have been greatly exaggerated: “Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Supreme Court’s opinion reversing Roe v. Wade, is retiring, the court announced Tuesday.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Stacy Seyb believes that the fall of Roe surely cannot mean that women will have to sacrifice their health and lives.

From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026

In 1974, on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026

The school in Derby was founded by Dr William Roe in the 1890s after witnessing a young deaf man being bullied.

From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026

When Roe returned to Long Island, instead of delivering the report directly to Abraham Woodhull, he would put it in a box buried on Woodhull’s farm.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

The caviar, he stresses, is not beluga but a far more affordable paste blend of roes, marketed with his endorsement.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2022

I fell in love with it for its section on savouries, the course that theoretically comes after pudding – herring roes on toast, deep fried St Eadburgha, baked figs and gorgonzola.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 30, 2012

Bones of stags, roes, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs and fish were discovered, but no human skeletons.

From Time Magazine Archive

Says Meyer Berman of Manhattan's Scheinman, Hochslin & Trotta: "There will be new he roes because the stock market needs heroes."

From Time Magazine Archive

Like two alarmed roes they hastened on through the night, and often shrunk together when the moon lighted up a distant tree, so that they fancied one of the robbers stood behind it.

From The Student-Life of Germany by William Howitt