tunny
[tuhn-ee]
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Origin of tunny
1520–30; by apocope < Medieval Latin tunnīna false tunny, noun use of feminine of tunnīnus like a tunny, equivalent to tunn(us) tunny (variant of Latin thynnus < Greek thýnnos) + -īnus -ine1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tunny
Historical Examples
An old Cornish name for the tunny, or a scomber, larger than the horse-mackerel.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
The flesh of the tunny is much esteemed, being firm and wholesome.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
The medals of Asido, Florez describes as having sometimes a bull, and at others a fish of the tunny kind, upon them.
The tunny, coming in contact with this net, become alarmed, and make off from it in the only direction left open to them.
The next morning, and for many mornings afterwards, not a tunny was to be seen.
Lords of the WorldAlfred John Church
tunny
- another name for tuna 1
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French thon, from Old Provençal ton, from Latin thunnus, from Greek
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tunny
n.
large sea-fish of the mackerel order, 1520s, probably from Middle French thon (14c.), from Old Provençal ton, from Latin thunnus "a tuna, tunny," from Greek thynnos "a tuna, tunny," possibly in the literal sense of "darter," from thynein "dart along."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper