capelin

noun

cap·​e·​lin ˈka-p(ə-)lən How to pronounce capelin (audio)
: a small northern sea fish (Mallotus villosus) of the smelt family

Examples of capelin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Puffins are carnivorous birds that primarily eat small fish, including herring, hake, sand eels, and capelin. Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024 On top is a sheet of orange, wild Icelandic capelin fish roe. Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 22 July 2024 Polar bears aside, the cameras have also captured other critters in the river, including capelin fish, melon comb jellies and common northern comb jellies. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 July 2024 Twenty-two species show up during this period, coming to feed on krill, capelin, and squid in the tens of thousands. Jennifer Billock, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Oct. 2023 The capelin rear guard, sensing danger, rose off the bottom in a great fleeing cloud. Robert Kunzig, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019 And here, in a stretch of the Arctic Ocean 400 kilometers north of where they’d ever been seen before: capelin. WIRED, 24 June 2023 To Merten, the evidence of so many capelin so far north is a bold sign of a worrying Arctic phenomenon: Atlantification. WIRED, 24 June 2023 And here, in a stretch of the Arctic Ocean 250 miles north of where they’d ever been seen before: capelin. William Von Herff, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

Canadian French capelan, from French, codfish, from Old Occitan, chaplain, codfish, from Medieval Latin cappellanus chaplain — more at chaplain

First Known Use

1620, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of capelin was in 1620

Dictionary Entries Near capelin

Cite this Entry

“Capelin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capelin. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

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