salmon

American  

[sam-uhn] / ˈsæm ən /

noun

salmons, plural salmon plural

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• salmonlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• salmon
  plural
• salmons
  plural

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

See Examples For:

salmon salmons

Bryant said he hoped the work would help "right some wrongs" that affected not just eel numbers but also salmon and trout in rivers.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Over a dinner featuring steaks, salmon and burrata salad, Graham toasted Scott Bessent—Trump’s Treasury secretary and a fellow South Carolinian, who traveled to Ankara on Air Force One with the president.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

A report from Earthjustice estimates that expanded oil drilling in California could threaten five marine species including humpback whales, sea otters, leatherback sea turtles, marbled murrelets and wild salmon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026

They found a guy who did an ad against some Norwegian salmon commercial fisheries, realized he was cut straight from central casting, and that’s how we got Graham Platner.

From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026

Dimple snorted and reached for the last bite of her salmon slider.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

Shotter said that salmon sperm “is harvested from salmons without harming them.”

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024

As a result, the state has been trucking millions of salmons raised at hatcheries to the ocean each year, bypassing the perilous downstream journey.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2021

A settlement of "fish-skin" Indians was visited in the dog search, and Meares told us of natives who dressed in cured skins of salmons.

From South with Scott by Mountevans, Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, baron

Being, however, extremely slippery, he would have escaped had not Thor held him fast by the tail, and this is the reason why salmons have had their tails ever since so fine and thin.

From The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson by Saemund Sigfusson

He was much surprised, however, to see her eat for supper eight salmons, besides a full grown ox and other delicacies, washing down the repast with proportionate draughts of mead.

From The Student's Mythology A Compendium of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Hindoo, Chinese, Thibetian, Scandinavian, Celtic, Aztec, and Peruvian Mythologies by White, Catherine Ann

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