tunny

[ tuhn-ee ]

/ ˈtʌn i /

Save This Word!

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

tuna¹.

QUIZ

FIRE UP YOUR VOCAB FOR A "RED" SYNONYMS QUIZ

No fire engine reds here, only a fierce collection of vibrant words for the color red to test yourself on.

Question 1 of 7

What does "amaranth" mean?

a legendary stone of impenetrable hardness

an imaginary, undying flower

a mythical creature

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

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. 2021

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