lamprey

English

A lamprey

Etymology

From Middle English laumprei, from Old French lampreie (modern French lamproie), from Medieval Latin lampreda, possibly alteration of Late Latin lampetra (“lamprey”), whose further origin is unknown, though it is traditionally thought to be a combination of lambō (“I lick, lap”) + petra (“stone, rock”). Doublet of limpet, which derived from Latin.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlæm.pɹi/, /ˈlæm.pɹeɪ/
Audio (CA) (file)
Hyphenation: lam‧prey

Noun

lamprey (countable and uncountable, plural lampreys)

Any long slender primitive eel-like freshwater and saltwater fish of the order Petromyzontiformes, having a sucking mouth with rasping teeth but no jaw.

Derived terms

brook lamprey
European river lamprey
lampricide
pouched lamprey
river lamprey
sea lamprey
southern lamprey
southern topeyed lamprey

Translations

a fish

Catalan: llampresa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 八目鰻／八目鳗 (zh) (bāmùmán)
Czech: mihule f
Danish: lampret m, niøje m, rundmund m
Dutch: prik (nl), lamprei (nl), negenoog (nl)
Esperanto: petromizo
Estonian: silmlane
Finnish: nahkiainen (fi)
French: lamproie (fr) f
Galician: lamprea (gl) f
German: Neunauge (de) n
Hebrew: צַמָּד‎ (he) m (tzamád)
Hungarian: orsóhal (hu), ingola (hu)
Ido: lampredo (io)
Irish: péist an dá shúil déag f
Italian: lampreda
Japanese: 八目鰻 (ヤツメウナギ, yatsumeunagi)
Korean: 칠성장어 (chilseongjang'eo)
Latvian: nēģis
Lithuanian: nėgė
Luxembourgish: Nénga n, Lamprouer f
Maori: korokoro, puhikorokoro, kanakana, piharau, pihapiharau
Norwegian:
Bokmål: niøye n, niauge n, lamprett m
Nynorsk: niauga n, niauge n
Occitan: lampresa f
Old English: merenǣdre f
Polish: minóg m
Portuguese: lampreia (pt) f
Romanian: lampretă f
Russian: мино́га (ru) f (minóga)
Serbo-Croatian: zmijuljica (sh) f, paklara (sh) f, паклара f
Spanish: lamprea (es)
Swedish: nejonöga (sv) n
Turkish: taşemen (tr)
Ukrainian: мино́га f (mynóha)
Welsh: lamprai f, llysywen bendoll f

References

lamprey in Oxford English Dictionary, volume VI, 1908
lamprey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

Parmley, palmery