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 derives from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæm.pɹi/, /ˈlæm.pɹeɪ/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lam‧prey

Noun

lamprey (countable and uncountable, plural lampreys)

1. 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: 七鰓鰻／七鳃鳗 (zh) (qīsāimán), 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)
• Ingrian: silmu
• Irish: péist an dá shúil déag f
• Italian: lampreda (it)
• Japanese: 八目鰻 (ja) (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 (pl) 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: llysywen bendoll f, lamprai f

References

• lamprey in Oxford English Dictionary, volume VI, 1908
• “lamprey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Parmley, palmery