bycatch
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.23 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any fish (or other creatures) that are not targeted as a catch but are unintentionally caught, and often discarded back into the sea.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Some offer him bags of bycatch—fish too small or net-mangled to sell, rays and seahorses few will want, and so on."
- "The nets come up full for once. Jumbo brown shrimp, […] The fish we keep too, […] Among the bycatch is a gorgeous sea slug with a silvery, narrow body no longer than an inch and six dark-blue appendages that reach out like fingers."
Etymology
Etymology tree English by- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Indo-European *kaptós Proto-Italic *kaptos Latin captus Proto-Indo-European *-yetider. Latin -io Vulgar Latin *captiāre Old French chacierbor. Anglo-Norman cachierbor. Middle English cacchen English catch English bycatch From by- + catch.