Standard Lemma guide

coelacanth

noun · 3 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.

  • /ˈsiː.lə.kænθ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S IY1 L AH0 K AE2 N TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of the class Actinistia of primitive lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes—thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until a living specimen was discovered in 1938. Most species are large and plump and they all have bodies covered in tough elasmoid scales that act as armor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of the class Actinistia of primitive lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes—thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until a living specimen was discovered in 1938. Most species are large and plump and they all have bodies covered in tough elasmoid scales that act as armor.

Either of the two extant species in this group; the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) or the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gombessa

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

fish thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous period but found in 1938 off the coast of Africa

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Latimeria chalumnae

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: crossopterygian, lobefin, lobe-finned fish

History

Etymology

From the New Latin genus name Coelacanthus, from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”) + ἄκανθα (ákantha, “spine”), referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Assamese: চিলাকেন্থ (silakentho) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Assamese: চিলাকেন মাছ (silaken mas) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Chinese Cantonese: 矛尾魚 /矛尾鱼 — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 矛尾魚 /矛尾鱼 (máowěiyú) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Finnish: latimeria — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • French: cœlacanthe — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • German: Quastenflosser — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Greek: κοιλάκανθος (koilákanthos) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Hungarian: bojtosúszós maradványhal — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Indonesian: ikan raja laut — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Italian: celacanto — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Japanese: シーラカンス (shīrakansu) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Occitan: celacant — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Polish: latimeria — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Portuguese: celacanto — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Romanian: celacant — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Russian: целака́нт (celakánt) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Russian: латиме́рия (latimérija) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Spanish: celacanto — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Swedish: kvastfening — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Swedish: havstofsstjärt — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Swedish: tofsstjärtfisk — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Swedish: blå kvastfening — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Sylheti: ꠍꠤꠟꠣꠇꠦꠘ ꠝꠣꠍ (sílaxen masó) — either of two species of deep-water fish
  • Vietnamese: cá vây tay — either of two species of deep-water fish