wrasse

American  

[ras] / ræs /

noun

1. any of various marine fishes of the family Labridae, especially of the genus Labrus, having thick, fleshy lips, powerful teeth, and usually a brilliant color, certain species being valued as food fishes.

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wrasse British  

/ ræs /

noun

1. any marine percoid fish of the family Labridae, of tropical and temperate seas, having thick lips, strong teeth, and usually a bright coloration: many are used as food fishes

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Etymology

Origin of wrasse

1665–75; apparently originally a plural of dial. (Cornwall) wrah, wraugh, wrath < Cornish wragh, lenited form of gwragh literally, old woman, hag; compare Welsh gwrach ( en ), Breton gwrac’h, also with both senses

Example Sentences

By dropping the shrimp and comparing its real movement with the reflected movement, the wrasse were effectively investigating how the mirror worked.

From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2026

And on Norfolk Island — a remote rock in the Pacific Ocean with about 2,000 residents and essentially no exports to the U.S. — a children’s book author memed a baffled-looking tropical wrasse fish.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2025

Following a visit to the site of the incident, Mr Moyes believes the dead fish in the water to be wrasse.

From BBC • Sep. 30, 2024

Dr. Kohda knows well how tough persuading scientists can be, after his own extensive efforts to demonstrate self-awareness in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse fish.

From New York Times • Oct. 25, 2023

Comber, kom′bēr, n. a name applied to the gaper, a sea-perch, and to a species of wrasse.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various