Standard Lemma guide

bichir

noun · 1 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.

  • General-American: /bɪˈʃiːɹ/
  • General-American: /biˈʃiːɹ/
  • General-American: /ˈbiːʃɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈbɪʃɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈbɪtʃɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈbaɪkɚ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɪtʃə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪtʃə(ɹ)
  • homophone: bitcher
  • homophone: biker

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any ray-finned fish of the genus Polypterus in the family Polypteridae, having elongated bodies covered in thick, bone-like, ganoid scales.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the species epithet of Polypterus bichir taken over in 1802/1803, the years of its collection and description, after Arabic بَشِير (bašīr).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بَشِير (bašīr) — fish
  • Arabic: أَبُو بَشِير (ʔabū bašīr) — fish
  • Greek: βιχήρ ο πολύπτερος (vichír o polýpteros) — fish