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

Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, smelt and sturgeon have declined dramatically over the last few decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

"We've seen the Atlantic salmon return to the river and also the critically endangered European eel makes its way up the Mersey and into the River Gowy to breed each year as well," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

She serves her son, now 5, their favorite broiled salmon recipe a few times a week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The Scott River, which flows out of mountain forests into a broad valley near the California-Oregon border, provides vital habitat for salmon that swim upstream from the ocean to spawn in the fall and winter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

It’s obvious Dad’s mad, but I don’t know what to say, so I take another bite of salmon.

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

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

Also we wanted not of fresh salmons, trouts, lobsters and other fresh fish brought daily vnto vs.

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. by Richard Hakluyt

My footboy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, Knots, goodwits, lampreys.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 84, October, 1864 by Various

Wee had a very good depth, as sixe, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, and thirteene fathomes, and great store of salmons in the river.

From Great Epochs in American History, Volume I. Voyages Of Discovery And Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1682 by Francis W. (Francis Whiting) Halsey

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