tunny

[ tuhn-ee ]

/ ˈtʌn i /

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noun, plural (especially collectively) tun·ny, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) tun·nies.Chiefly British.

tuna¹.

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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

Words nearby tunny

tunneling, tunnel of love, tunnel vault, tunnel vision, Tunney, tunny, Tuonela, tup, Tupamaro, tupelo, Tupi

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tunny in a sentence

Shoals of tunny-fish, (fish four and five feet long, and belonging to the dolphin tribe,) were seen tumbling about the ship.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
His first idea is to seek wealth, so he builds a great boat and captures twelve hundred tunny fish.
Frdric Mistral|Charles Alfred Downer
You may pay twopence-halfpenny a pound for it, and charge me half-a-crown, if you like, but I mean to taste that tunny!
The Travelling Companions|F. Anstey
I beg your pardon, you were describing how you caught a tunny?
The Travelling Companions|F. Anstey

Tunny and other fish were plentiful in the sea, and the rivers afforded large eels.
The Story of Seville|Walter M. Gallichan

British Dictionary definitions for tunny

tunny

/ (ˈtʌnɪ) /

noun plural -nies or -ny

another name for tuna 1

Word Origin for tunny

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012