Mackerel
nounA common oily sea fish with dark wavy markings, often eaten smoked or grilled.
How to spell mackerel
8 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce mackerel
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does mackerel mean?
- nounA common oily sea fish with dark wavy markings, often eaten smoked or grilled.
Mackerel in a sentence
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The fishmonger filleted a fresh mackerel for the grill.
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Smoked mackerel on toast makes a quick high-protein lunch.
Where does mackerel come from?
Language of origin: French
The word came into English in the early 1300s from the Old French maquerel, the name for this same oily sea fish. The deeper origin is genuinely uncertain, and lexicographers have argued over it for a long time. One much-discussed idea links it to a separate Old French maquerel meaning 'a broker' or 'go-between', supposedly because old folklore claimed the mackerel led herring shoals to their mates; that charming story is far from proven. Another suggestion ties it to a Latin root macula meaning 'spot' or 'mark', a nod to the dark bands across the fish's back. Because the source is so murky, the spelling simply has to be memorised, and the awkward part for adults is the unstressed ending that sounds like a vague 'rul' but is written -erel.
How the word is built
- mackerel (single root; from Old French maquerel, no separable prefix or suffix)
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