herring
/ˈhɛɹɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.48 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Those fish and any other fish similar to those in genus Clupea, many of those in the order Clupeiformes.
name
A surname.
name
A ghost town in Sac County, Iowa, United States.
name
An unincorporated community in Preston County, West Virginia, United States.
Example Sentences
Etymology
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.