garfish

1 8.2

A large fish with a long body, hard scales, and long jaws full of thin, sharp teeth

noun
/ˈɡɑrˌfɪʃ/

: pez espada

In North America, the garfish is recognized for its hard scales and predatory nature.

Examples

You know how nasty garfish can be when they get squirrelly?

Fiction book (1998)
The fisherman caught a large garfish, known for its sharp teeth and elongated body.
Children were fascinated by the garfish swimming in the aquarium with its needle-like teeth.

Synonyms

gar

vsgarfish

1 9.9

A long fish with hard scales, long jaws, and sharp teeth that lives in rivers and coasts

is the North American large form emphasizing hard scales and needlelike teeth

garpike

vsgarfish

Archaic

1 9.9

A large freshwater fish with a long snout and hard diamond-shaped scales that eats other fish

is the general fish description focusing on size and teeth rather than snout shape

Lepisosteus osseus

vsgarfish

Specialized

1 9.9

A long river fish with hard scales, long jaws, and sharp thin teeth that eats fish

is the broader North American predatory fish type not only that species

Lepisosteus

vsgarfish

Specialized

1 9.9

A freshwater fish with a long jaw full of sharp teeth and hard scales from North and Central America

is a single species or common form rather than the whole genus

How Big

sturgeon

15 7.1

garfish

1 8.2

trout

99 1.0

perch

9 4.2

minnow

14 4.2

Surface Forms

garfish singular

garfishes plural

Morphology

garfish = gar + fish (transparent) = gar + fish

A straightforward compound meaning 'a fish that is a gar'; the meaning follows directly from its parts.

Etymology

Garfish comes from an old word gar meaning 'spear' and the word fish. So a garfish is a 'spear-fish' — it has a long pointed snout and sharp, needle-like teeth, which makes the name easy to remember.