Standard Lemma guide

barbel

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈbɑːbəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈbɑːɹbəl/
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)bəl
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA1 R B EH2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A freshwater fish of the genus Barbus or other closely related taxa in the cyprinid family.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: barb

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cyprinid, fish, vertebrate, animal, organism, creature

2

noun

Meaning 2

A barb or pap under the tongue of a cow or horse.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: barb

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: part, structure

3

noun

Meaning 3

A whisker-like sensory organ, located around the mouth of certain fish, including carp, catfish, goatfish, sturgeon, and some types of shark.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: barb

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cirrus, appendage, part, structure

4

noun

Meaning 4

slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: feeler

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tentacle

History

Etymology

PIE word *bhardhéh2 From Middle English barbel, from Old French barbel, from Vulgar Latin *barbellus, from Late Latin barbulus, diminutive of Latin barbus (“barbel”); barbus itself is from barba (“beard”). By surface analysis, Latin barb(us) (“beard, barbel”) + -el (diminutive suffix), and also, by surface analysis, barb (“sharp, extruding structure”) + -el (diminutive suffix).

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: բեղլու (beġlu) — fish
  • Belarusian: вусач (vusač) — fish
  • Belarusian: мірон (mirón) — fish
  • Catalan: barb — fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 魮 /𱇒 (bí) — fish
  • Czech: parma — fish
  • Dutch: barbeel — fish
  • Finnish: barbi — fish
  • French: barbeau — fish
  • Galician: barbo — fish
  • German: Barbe — fish
  • Hungarian: márna — fish
  • Ido: barbelo — fish
  • Italian: barbio — fish
  • Kazakh: қаяз (qaäz) — fish
  • Kazakh: сүген (sügen) — fish
  • Latin: barbus — fish
  • Macedonian: мренка (mrenka) — fish
  • Macedonian: мрена (mrena) — fish
  • Persian: زردهپره (zardeparre) — fish
  • Polish: brzana — fish
  • Portuguese: barbo — fish
  • Romanian: mreană — fish
  • Russian: уса́ч (usáč) — fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: мре̏на — fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: mrȅna — fish
  • Slovak: mrena — fish
  • Spanish: barbo — fish
  • Swedish: barb — fish
  • Ukrainian: марена (marena) — fish
  • Ukrainian: вусач (vusač) — fish
  • Walloon: bårbea — fish
  • Galician: barbo — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Hungarian: bajusz — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Indonesian: sungut — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Irish: sprochaille — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Italian: barbiglio — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Persian: سبیلک (sebilak) — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Polish: wąsik — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Portuguese: barbilhão — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
  • Portuguese: barbilho — whisker-like sensory organs of certain fish
Real reading context

barbel in complete knowledge articles