Pollock

How to spell pollock

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pollock

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pollock mean?

1. nounA North Atlantic food fish related to the cod, commonly sold for eating.

Pollock in a sentence

• The fishmonger recommended a fillet of fresh pollock for dinner.

• Smoked pollock is cheaper than haddock at most supermarkets.

Where does pollock come from?

Language of origin: Celtic

Pollock is the name of a North Atlantic food fish related to the cod, and its origin is genuinely murky. The word is first recorded in English in the 1500s, often in the Scottish form 'podlock' or 'podley', and many lexicographers suspect a Celtic source, since the fish was a staple of Scottish and Irish coastal diets. The exact root word has never been pinned down, which is why the spelling has wobbled between 'pollock' and 'pollack' for centuries, with neither winning outright. Confusingly, the same string of letters is also a well known surname, carried by the American painter Jackson Pollock, though the family name has a separate Scottish and place name history. Because the origin is uncertain and the two spellings have always competed, set no folk story to the trap: just remember the single 'l' is doubled and the ending is '-ock'.

How the word is built

• pollock (single root; a fish name of obscure origin, related to the variant spelling pollack)