Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

garfish

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.61 in modern English

Syllables
garfish
IPA
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.

British usage

noun

Any North or Central American fish of the family Lepisosteidae.

Canadian usage; American usage

Etymology

From Middle English garfysche (“garfish”, literally “spear-fish”), from gor (“spear”) + fisch (“fish”). Cognate with Scots gairfish (“garfish”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

Usage

Inflected Forms

garfishes (plural) gar-fish (alternative)

Synonyms

needlefish long-nose sea needle common hornbeak garpike gar billfish lepisosteus osseus

Questions

What does garfish mean?
Any fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.
Where does garfish come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce garfish

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “garfish”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “garfish”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “garfish” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.