Meanings
plural garfishes · alternative gar-fish
- IrelandUKespeciallyAny fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.
Synonyms: needlefish, long-nose, sea needle, common hornbeak, garpike
- CanadaUSespeciallyAny North or Central American fish of the family Lepisosteidae.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.
More synonyms by meaning
nounprimitive predaceous North American fish covered with hard scales and having long jaws with needlelike teeth
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishgarfysche“garfish”
- Englishgarfish
From Middle English garfysche (“garfish”, literally “spear-fish”), from gor (“spear”) + fisch (“fish”). Cognate with Scots gairfish (“garfish”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque akula
- akulafish of family Belonidae
Bulgarian зарган
- зарган (zargan)fish of family Belonidae
Catalan agulla
- agullafish of family Belonidae
Chinese Mandarin 長嘴硬鱗魚 /长嘴硬鳞鱼
- 長嘴硬鱗魚 /长嘴硬鳞鱼 (cháng zuǐyìng línyú)fish of family Belonidae
Dutch geep
- geepfish of family Belonidae
Finnish nokkakala, luuhauki
- nokkakalafish of family Belonidae
- luuhaukifish of family Lepisosteidae
French orphie
- orphiefish of family Belonidae
German Hornhecht, Knochenhecht
- Hornhechtfish of family Belonidae
- Knochenhechtfish of family Lepisosteidae
Greek ζαργάνα
- ζαργάνα (zargána)fish of family Belonidae
Irish corr uaine, ronnach Spáinneach
- corr uainefish of family Belonidae
- ronnach Spáinneachfish of family Belonidae
- spéirlint fharraigefish of family Belonidae
- spéirlint mharafish of family Belonidae
Japanese ガーフィッシュ
- ガーフィッシュ (gāfisshu)fish of family Belonidae
Māori hangenge, takeke
- hangengefish of family Belonidae
- takekefish of family Belonidae
Norwegian Bokmål horngjel
- horngjelfish of family Belonidae
Polish belona, niszczuka
- belonafish of family Belonidae
- niszczukafish of family Lepisosteidae
- łuskostfish of family Lepisosteidae
Portuguese peixe-agulha
- peixe-agulhafish of family Belonidae
Romanian zărgan, țipar-de-mare
- zărganfish of family Belonidae
- țipar-de-marefish of family Belonidae
- știucă-de-marefish of family Belonidae
Russian сарга́н, па́нцирник
- сарга́н (sargán)fish of family Belonidae
- па́нцирник (páncirnik)fish of family Lepisosteidae
- па́нцирная щу́ка (páncirnaja ščúka)fish of family Lepisosteidae
Spanish aguja
- agujafish of family Belonidae
Tagalog haba, isang-haba
- habafish of family Belonidae
- isang-habafish of family Belonidae
Turkish zargana
- zarganafish of family Belonidae
Ukrainian сарга́н
- сарга́н (sarhán)fish of family Belonidae
Welsh cornbig
- cornbigfish of family Belonidae
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
garfish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/garfish
“garfish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/garfish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “garfish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/garfish.
Source: garfish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.