Standard Lemma guide

lamprey

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈlæm.pɹi/
  • /ˈlæm.pɹeɪ/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: L AE1 M P R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any long slender primitive eel-like freshwater and saltwater fish of the order Petromyzontiformes, having a sucking mouth with rasping teeth but no jaw.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

primitive eellike freshwater or anadromous cyclostome having round sucking mouth with a rasping tongue

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lamprey eel, lamper eel

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: jawless vertebrate, jawless fish, agnathan

Narrower terms: sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus

History

Etymology

From Middle English laumprei, from Old French lampreie (modern French lamproie), from Medieval Latin lampreda, possibly alteration of Late Latin lampetra (“lamprey”), whose further origin is unknown, though it is traditionally thought to be a combination of lambō (“to lick, lap”) + petra (“stone, rock”). Doublet of limpet, which derives from Latin.

Across languages

Translations

60 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: llamprea — a fish
  • Azerbaijani: ilanbalığı — a fish
  • Catalan: llampresa — a fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 七鰓鰻 /七鳃鳗 (qīsāimán) — a fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 八目鰻 /八目鳗 (bāmùmán) — a fish
  • Czech: mihule — a fish
  • Danish: lampret — a fish
  • Danish: niøje — a fish
  • Danish: rundmund — a fish
  • Dutch: prik — a fish
  • Dutch: lamprei — a fish
  • Dutch: negenoog — a fish
  • Esperanto: petromizo — a fish
  • Estonian: silmlane — a fish
  • Finnish: nahkiainen — a fish
  • French: lamproie — a fish
  • Galician: lamprea — a fish
  • German: Neunauge — a fish
  • Greek: λάμπραινα (lámpraina) — a fish
  • Hebrew: צַמָּד (tzamád) — a fish
  • Hungarian: orsóhal — a fish
  • Hungarian: ingola — a fish
  • Ido: lampredo — a fish
  • Ingrian: silmu — a fish
  • Irish: péist an dá shúil déag — a fish
  • Italian: lampreda — a fish
  • Japanese: 八目鰻 (yatsumeunagi) — a fish
  • Korean: 칠성장어 (chilseongjang'eo) — a fish
  • Latin: lampetra — a fish
  • Latin: lamprēda — a fish
  • Latvian: nēģis — a fish
  • Lithuanian: nėgė — a fish
  • Luxembourgish: Nénga — a fish
  • Luxembourgish: Lamprouer — a fish
  • Māori: korokoro — a fish
  • Māori: puhikorokoro — a fish
  • Māori: kanakana — a fish
  • Māori: piharau — a fish
  • Māori: pihapiharau — a fish
  • Norwegian Bokmål: niøye — a fish
  • Norwegian Bokmål: niauge — a fish
  • Norwegian Bokmål: lamprett — a fish
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: niauga — a fish
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: niauge — a fish
  • Occitan: lampresa — a fish
  • Old English: merenǣdre — a fish
  • Polish: minóg — a fish
  • Portuguese: lampreia — a fish
  • Romanian: lampretă — a fish
  • Russian: мино́га (minóga) — a fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: zmijuljica — a fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: paklara — a fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: паклара — a fish
  • Slovene: piškur — a fish
  • Spanish: lamprea — a fish
  • Swedish: nejonöga — a fish
  • Turkish: taşemen — a fish
  • Ukrainian: мино́га (mynóha) — a fish
  • Welsh: llysywen bendoll — a fish
  • Welsh: lamprai — a fish