salmon

/ˈsæmən/

/ˈsæmən/

Other forms: salmons

A salmon is a big, silver-skinned fish that lives in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Many commercial fishermen catch salmon.

Salmon are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to the place they were born to spawn, or reproduce. Because they move from one place to another, salmon are famous for leaping over dams and against river tides — in fact, one theory about the word salmon says its Latin root is salire, or "to leap." There is also a color known as salmon, the pink-orange hue of a salmon's flesh.

Definitions of salmon

1. noun

   any of various large food and game fishes of northern waters; usually migrate from salt to fresh water to spawn
   types:

   blackfish

   female salmon that has recently spawned

   redfish

   male salmon that has recently spawned

   Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar

   found in northern coastal Atlantic waters or tributaries; adults do not die after spawning

   Oncorhynchus nerka, blueback salmon, red salmon, sockeye, sockeye salmon

   small salmon with red flesh; found in rivers and tributaries of the northern Pacific and valued as food; adults die after spawning

   Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, chinook, chinook salmon, king salmon, quinnat salmon

   large Pacific salmon valued as food; adults die after spawning

   Oncorhynchus keta, chum, chum salmon

   a large Pacific salmon with small spots on its back; an important food fish

   Oncorhynchus kisutch, blue jack, coho, coho salmon, cohoe, silver salmon

   small salmon of northern Pacific coasts and the Great Lakes

   lake salmon, landlocked salmon

   Atlantic salmon confined to lakes of New England and southeastern Canada

   type of:

   food fish

   any fish used for food by human beings

   salmonid

   soft-finned fishes of cold and temperate waters
2. noun

   flesh of any of various marine or freshwater fish of the family Salmonidae
   types:

   Atlantic salmon

   fatty pink flesh of fish from northern coastal Atlantic; usually marketed fresh

   red salmon, sockeye, sockeye salmon

   fatty red flesh of salmon of Pacific coast and rivers

   chinook, chinook salmon, king salmon

   pink or white flesh of large Pacific salmon

   coho, coho salmon, cohoe, silver salmon

   fatty pinkish flesh of small salmon caught in the Pacific and Great Lakes

   smoked salmon

   salmon cured by smoking

   kippered salmon

   salted and smoked salmon

   lox

   brine-cured salmon that is lightly smoked

   type of:

   fish

   the flesh of fish used as food
3. adjective

   of orange tinged with pink
   synonyms: pink-orange, pinkish-orange

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue
4. noun

   a pale pinkish orange color
   type of:

   chromatic color, chromatic colour, spectral color, spectral colour

   a color that has hue