🐟 A sea fish 🍽️ White fish meat

codfish

1 2.0

White meat from a cod that people cook and eat

noun
/ˈkɒdˌfɪʃ/

: bacalao

I'm planning to bake codfish with lemon and herbs for dinner tonight.
codfish fillets

Examples

By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless.

Catfish (2010)
I do wonderful codfish bowls, and I am known for my coconut-basted lobster... with passion fruit dip.

Woman on Top (2000)
For lunch, we had codfish served with a side of steamed vegetables.
She prepared a delicious dish of codfish in a creamy sauce.

Synonyms

cod

vscodfish

10 1.0

The white, lean flesh of a large sea fish eaten as food

is the longer two-word form used interchangeably for the same flesh

Atlantic cod

vscodfish

1 2.1

A large sea fish from the North Atlantic with white, flaky flesh used for food

focuses on the edible flesh rather than the whole fish species

Pacific cod

vscodfish

Specialized

1 2.7

A sea fish with white meat that lives in the North Pacific and people eat

refers to North Atlantic flesh usually baked or poached rather than Pacific species

Alaska cod

vscodfish

3.0

A white sea fish like Atlantic cod that lives in the northern Pacific and is eaten

is North Atlantic flesh usually baked or poached rather than this Pacific species

pollock

vscodfish

5.1

White flaky fish meat used as food, similar to cod

is the North Atlantic flesh usually baked or poached rather than a similar different species

cusk

vscodfish

9.9

White, lean meat from a North Atlantic fish like cod for eating

is the North Atlantic flesh usually baked or poached not this specific species

haddock

vscodfish

2.3

White, lean fish meat used for cooking, often baked or fried

is from a larger North Atlantic fish usually baked or poached rather than smaller types

hake

vscodfish

4.7

The white flesh of a sea fish that people eat

is the North Atlantic flesh usually baked or poached rather than a related species meat

Compounds

codfish ball

Canadian

8.1

A small ball of mashed potato made with salted cod and often breaded and fried

codfish cake

Canadian

3.5

A small fried or baked cake made from salt cod and potatoes

Surface Forms

codfish singular

codfishes plural

Morphology

codfish = cod + fish (transparent) = cod + fish

Although this sense refers to the flesh of the cod, the compound origin 'cod' + 'fish' still transparently links to the animal and its meat.

Etymology

Codfish was first the name of the fish, coming from cod meaning 'bag' or 'pouch' for its swollen belly or eggs. So the same name came to mean the fish's white meat too, the part people usually eat.