Etymology

rudderfish

R1U1D2D2E1R1F4I1S1H4

Today it means: Any of various not closely related fish that have the habit of following ships Full definition →

English fish ← Middle English fisch ← Old English fisċ
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁reh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁roh₁-(ye-)-ti
  3. Proto-Germanic*rōaną
  4. Proto-Germanic*rōþrą
  5. Proto-West Germanic*rōþr
  6. Old Englishrōþor
  7. Middle Englishrother
  8. Englishrudder
  9. Proto-Indo-European*péysks
  10. Proto-Germanic*fiskaz
  11. Proto-West Germanic*fisk
  12. Old Englishfisċ
  13. Middle Englishfisch
  14. Englishfish
  15. English todayrudderfish

From rudder + fish.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.