salmon
Americannoun
plural
salmons,plural
salmon-
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.
-
any of several salmonoid food fishes of the genus Oncorhynchus, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean.
-
a light yellowish-pink.
adjective
noun
-
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
-
any of several unrelated fish, esp the Australian salmon
-
short for salmon pink
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing salmon
New Kid
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Amazing Animals, List 1
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Pink
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was the first member of his family to attend college, which he paid for by taking out student loans, landing work-study jobs and working summers in a salmon cannery in Cordova, Alaska.
From Los Angeles Times • May 16, 2026
In the Yellow Sea, China deployed a new salmon harvesting cage into waters shared with South Korea in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Anglers fear "hundreds" of young salmon may have been killed in a pollution incident on a tributary of the Derg River in County Tyrone.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
Stir it with spices— paprika, cumin, garlic, whatever you have — coat chicken or salmon, and let it sit for as long as you remember to.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026
If I used this net, I could catch a salmon.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
