herring
/ˈhɛɹɪŋ/
herring noun: a type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
Noun
herring (plural herrings or herring)
- A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
- Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
- Fish in the family Clupeidae.
- Those fish and any other fish similar to those in genus Clupea, many of those in the order Clupeiformes.
Proper noun capitalized: Herring
Herring
- A surname.
- A ghost town in Sac County, Iowa, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Preston County, West Virginia, United States.
herring meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
herring in Hindi
- हेरिंग
herring in Tamil
- நெத்தலி மீன், வாளை
herring in Marathi
- हेरिंग
herring in Urdu
- ہیرنگ
More languagesFewer languages
- herring in Bengali
- হেরিং
- herring in Telugu
- హెర్రింగ్, హెరింగ్
- herring in Malayalam
- ചാള, മത്തി, ഒരുതരം മത്സ്യം
- herring in Kannada
- ಹೆರ್ರಿಂಗ್, ಹೆರಿಂಗ್
- herring in Punjabi
- ਹੇਰਿੰਗ, ਹੇਰਰਿੰਗ
- herring in Gujarati
- એરંગ eraṅg
- herring in Odia
- ହେରିଙ୍ଗ, ହେରିଙ୍ଗ୍, ହେରିଂ
- herring in Nepali
- हेरिङ, हेरिंङ, हेर्रिङ
- herring in Arabic
- رنكة rinka
- herring in Persian
- شاهماهی šâh-mâhi
- herring in Vietnamese
- cá trích
Examples of herring in a sentence
- Idioms such as "red herring" are listemes, as are irregular forms such as "geese".
- The deliberate red herring threw me at first.
- A school of herring was visible on doppler.
Forms of herring
| plural | herrings |
|---|---|
| plural | herring |
Origin of herring
From Middle English hering, from Old English hǣring, from Proto-West Germanic *hāring (“herring”), further etymology unknown. Possibly derived from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”) + -ing, due to the similarity of their fine bones to hair. Cognate with Scots hering, haring (“herring”), Saterland Frisian Hiering, Häiring (“herring”), West Frisian hjerring (“herring”), Dutch haring (“herring”), German Low German Hereng, Hering (“herring”), German Hering (“herring”), Bavarian Haring (“herring”). Late Latin haringus (whence French hareng, etc.) is borrowed from Germanic.
Words formed from herring
- Atlantic herring
- Baltic herring
- Bismarck herring
- cucumber herring
- dead as a herring
- denticle herring
- dressed herring
- English herring
- European herring gull
- herring-bone
- herringbone
- herring cale
- herringer
- herring gull
- herring-gutted
- herringless
- herringlike
- herring pond
- herring under a fur coat
- herring worm
- lake herring
- longfin herring
- matjes herring
- oxeye herring
- Pacific herring
- pickle-herring
- Picton herring
- red herring
- red herring prospectus
- rock herring
- round herring
- thread herring
- white herring
- wolf herring
- Herring body
Phrases with herring
Words that rhyme with herring
Questions about herring
- What does herring mean?
- Herring means a type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
- What is herring in Hindi?
- Herring in Hindi is हेरिंग. See Herring meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is herring?
- Herring can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce herring?
- Herring is pronounced /ˈhɛɹɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of herring?
- The plural of herring is herrings.
Words near herring in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: herring (page history and authors); Herring (page history and authors); herring (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); herring (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); herring (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); એરંગ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); herring (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); herring (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-herring.ogg.
Cite this entry: “herring.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herring. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.