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Glite Dictionary
pollyfish

pollyfish

9.8
A brightly colored tropical fish with a beak like a parrot
  • noun
  • /ˈpɑːliˌfɪʃ/
translation icon : pez loro
  • While snorkeling in the Caribbean, I saw a pollyfish nibbling at the coral.

Examples

  • The aquarium features a spectacular pollyfish among its collection of tropical marine life.

  • The pollyfish swam gracefully among the coral reefs.

  • Pollyfishes are known for their vibrant colors and distinctive beak-shaped mouths.

  • Have you ever seen a pollyfish in the wild?

  • Pollyfishes are known for their vibrant colors and distinctive beak-shaped mouths.

  • The aquarium features a spectacular pollyfish among its collection of tropical marine life.

  • While snorkeling in the Caribbean, I saw a pollyfish nibbling at the coral.

Synonyms

parrotfish
vspollyfish
1 7.5

A brightly colored tropical fish with a beak-like mouth that lives on coral reefs

is the same fish but does not mention coral reef habitat
polly fish
vspollyfish
8.4

A brightly colored tropical fish with a mouth like a bird's beak that scrapes algae from coral

is identical in meaning but written as a single word

Surface Forms

pollyfish singular
pollyfishes plural

Morphology

pollyfish = polly + fish (semi-transparent) = polly + fish

The compound 'polly' + 'fish' transparently signals a fish associated with a parrot ('Polly'), but 'polly' as 'parrot' is informal and may be unfamiliar to learners.

Etymology

The word pollyfish comes from Polly, a common pet name for a 'parrot', plus fish, because this tropical fish has a hard, beak-like mouth like a parrot's 'beak'. So a pollyfish is another name for a bright, tropical fish known as a parrotfish.