tunny

English

Alternative forms

• thunny (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French thon +‎ -y, from Old Occitan ton, from Latin thunnus, from Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos), + -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʌni/

Noun

tunny (countable and uncountable, plural tunny or tunnies)

1. (dated) Synonym of tuna
   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎, London: Jonathan Cape, page 3:

     The floor of the chamber was tesselated, of marble and green tourmaline, and on every square of tourmaline was carven the image of a fish: as the dolphin, the conger, the cat-fish, the salmon, the tunny, the squid, and other wonders of the deep.

   • 2021, Edward Stratemeyer, Don Sturdy on the Ocean Bottom:

     You're a lucky guy to be eating anything right now. Instead you might easily be feeding the tunny fish and tarpon, to say nothing of the astronesthes and myctophids--

Derived terms

• little tunny

Descendants

• → Irish: tuinnín

Anagrams

• nunty