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Glite Dictionary
soft roe

soft roe

8.6
A soft, creamy part of a fish that holds sperm and people eat
  • noun
  • /sɔft roʊ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : milt
  • The chef prepared a creamy pate using fresh soft roe from river trout.

Examples

  • Grilled soft roe is considered a delicacy in some parts of Europe.

  • Some people are unfamiliar with soft roe, but it is prized in traditional Japanese cuisine.

  • I ordered a dish with soft roe for dinner.

  • Have you ever tried soft roe sushi?

  • In many upscale restaurants, soft roe is served as a creamy spread on toast.

  • The fishmonger recommended fresh soft roe for our sushi night, highlighting its rich flavor.

  • She was delighted to find soft roe on the menu, a rarity that she always wanted to try.

Synonyms

milt
vssoft roe
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A liquid a male fish releases that contains sperm to fertilize eggs

is the edible gland with a creamy texture rather than a general biological term

How Firm

hard roe
7.2
soft roe
  • Specialized
8.6

Surface Forms

soft roe singular
soft roes plural

Morphology

soft + roe

The adjective 'soft' combined with 'roe' gives a clear cue about a textural/type distinction (soft vs. hard roe), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a softer variety of roe. However, the specific culinary/biological sense (male milt or sperm-filled gland rather than fish eggs) is a conventional, language-specific distinction not predictable from the constituents, so the phrase is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The noun soft roe may come from fishermen who used roe to mean 'fish eggs' and added soft when the part was creamy and held sperm instead of being hard like eggs. So today soft roe means the creamy part of a fish that holds sperm, which people eat.