pufferfish en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈpʌfɚˌfɪʃ/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree English puff Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English puffer Proto-Indo-European *péysks Proto-Germanic *fiskaz Proto-West Germanic *fisk Old English fisċ Middle English fisch English fish English pufferfish From puffer + fish.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) Any species of fish of the family Tetraodontidae that have the ability to inflate themselves to a globe several times their normal size by swallowing water or air when threatened; puffer, blowfish, swellfish, balloonfish, globefish.
Recently, however, a scientist in Britain proposed a short cut that would use the genome of the fugu, a pufferfish known as a dangerous delicacy among Japanese sushi eaters, to speed the search for human genes.
1993 December 28, James Younger, “Fishy Short Cut To Mapping Human Genome”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2024:
- (uncountable) The meat of these fish, a delicacy popular in Japan served raw as sushi that may, if improperly prepared, contain deadly levels of neurotoxins; (Japanese) fugu.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pufferfishes | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| pufferfish | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
globefish · swellfish · fugu (dish) · balloonfish · blowfish · puffer
Translations (16)
fi pallokala (a delicacy popular in Japan) · fi siilikala (a delicacy popular in Japan) · de Kugelfisch (a delicacy popular in Japan) · da kuglefisk (a delicacy popular in Japan) · ja 河豚 (a delicacy popular in Japan) · fi fugu (a delicacy popular in Japan) · it pesce palla (a delicacy popular in Japan) · ja フグ (a delicacy popular in Japan) · ja 鰒 (a delicacy popular in Japan) · nv niicháadii (a delicacy popular in Japan) · pl najeżka (a delicacy popular in Japan) · mi kōpūtōtara (a delicacy popular in Japan) · ru фу́гу (a delicacy popular in Japan) · nl kogelvis (a delicacy popular in Japan) · cmn 河豚 (a delicacy popular in Japan) · pt fugu (a delicacy popular in Japan)