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

And it might also be time to turn to some lighter fish, such as tuna, salmon or prawns.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

In the summer, the area is thronged by fishermen drawn to Bristol Bay for the world’s largest sockeye salmon run.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

"Many people hold onto the American dream, but given how tough things are getting, you can't be the salmon swimming against the current -- because you get tired, you burn out, it destroys you."

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

There’s no way Clayton’s very seared salmon with watermelon radish can top a Jean-Georges chocolate mousse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

“Oh? I didn’t realize. Surely a few salmon rolls and yakitori skewers won’t break the bank.”

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya

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

He was taken, however, by Thor, who caught him by the tail, and compressed it so, that all salmons ever since have had that part remarkably thin.

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

It also contains the first game law, protecting "salmons."

From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup

The minute he heard of the chest in the sea, he thought of the salmons.

From Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland by Curtin, Jeremiah

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