Meanings
herring1
plural herrings
- A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC - Fish in the family Clupeidae.
- Those fish and any other fish similar to those in genus Clupea, many of those in the order Clupeiformes.
Herring2
- A surname.
- A ghost town in Sac County, Iowa, United States.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouncommercially important food fish of northern waters of both Atlantic and Pacific
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*hērą“hair”
- Proto-West Germanic*hāring“herring”
- Old Englishhǣring
- Middle Englishhering
- Englishherring
From Middle English hering, from Old English hǣring, from Proto-West Germanic *hāring (“herring”), further etymology unknown. Possibly derived from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”) + -ing, due to the similarity of their fine bones to hair. Cognate with Scots hering, haring (“herring”), Saterland Frisian Hiering, Häiring (“herring”), West Frisian hjerring (“herring”), Dutch haring (“herring”), German Low German Hereng, Hering (“herring”), German Hering (“herring”), Bavarian Haring (“herring”). Late Latin haringus (whence French hareng, etc.) is borrowed from Germanic.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رنكة
- رنكة (rinka)fish in Clupea
Bulgarian хе́ринга
- хе́ринга (héringa)fish in Clupea
Catalan areng
- arengfish in Clupea
Chinese Cantonese 希靈魚 /希灵鱼
- 希靈魚 /希灵鱼fish in Clupea
Chinese Mandarin 鯡魚 /鲱鱼
- 鯡魚 /鲱鱼 (fēiyú)fish in Clupea
Czech sleď
- sleďfish in Clupea
Danish sild
- sildfish in Clupea
Dutch haring
- haringfish in Clupea
Esperanto haringo
- haringofish in Clupea
Estonian heeringas
- heeringasfish in Clupea
Finnish silli, silakka
- sillifish in Clupea
- silakkafish in Clupea
- hailifish in Clupea
French hareng
- harengfish in Clupea
German Hering
- Heringfish in Clupea
Greek ρέγγα, ρέγκα
- ρέγγα (rénga)fish in Clupea
- ρέγκα (régka)fish in Clupea
Hebrew מָלִיחַ, דג מלוח
- מָלִיחַ (malíaẖ)fish in Clupea
- דג מלוח (dag malúaẖ)fish in Clupea
Hungarian hering
- heringfish in Clupea
Icelandic síld
- síldfish in Clupea
Irish scadán
- scadánfish in Clupea
Italian aringa
- aringafish in Clupea
Japanese ニシン, 鰊
- ニシン (nishin)fish in Clupea
- 鰊 (nishin)fish in Clupea
Korean 청어
- 청어 (cheong'eo)fish in Clupea
Latin chalcis, merlucius
- chalcisfish in Clupea
- merluciusfish in Clupea
- haringusfish in Clupea
- allecfish in Clupea
Latvian strimala, reņģe
- strimalafish in Clupea
- reņģefish in Clupea
- siļķefish in Clupea
Lithuanian silkė
- silkėfish in Clupea
Māori aua
- auafish in Clupea
Norwegian Bokmål sild
- sildfish in Clupea
Persian شاهماهی
- شاهماهی (šâh-mâhi)fish in Clupea
Polish śledź
- śledźfish in Clupea
Portuguese arenque
- arenquefish in Clupea
Romanian hering
- heringfish in Clupea
Russian сельдь, селёдка
- сельдь (selʹdʹ)fish in Clupea
- селёдка (seljódka)fish in Clupea
Scottish Gaelic sgadan
- sgadanfish in Clupea
Slovak sleď
- sleďfish in Clupea
Spanish arenque
- arenquefish in Clupea
Swedish sill, strömming
- sillfish in Clupea
- strömmingfish in Clupea
Turkish ringa
- ringafish in Clupea
Ukrainian оселе́дець
- оселе́дець (oselédecʹ)fish in Clupea
Vietnamese cá trích
- cá tríchfish in Clupea
Welsh pennog, ysgadan
- pennogfish in Clupea
- ysgadanfish in Clupea
Yiddish הערינג
- הערינג (hering)fish in Clupea
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with herring
All rhymes →Cite this entry
herring. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herring
“herring.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herring. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “herring,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herring.
Source: herring on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.