Standard Lemma guide

lanternfish

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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of small, deep sea fish of the large family Myctophidae, named after their conspicuous use of bioluminescence.

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

small fish having rows of luminous organs along each side; some surface at night

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: soft-finned fish, malacopterygian

History

Etymology

From lantern + fish.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: peix llanterna — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • Dutch: Lantaarnvissen — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • Finnish: valokala — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • French: poissons-lanternes — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • German: Laternenfisch — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • Greek: λυχναρόψαρο (lychnarópsaro) — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • Italian: pesce lanterna — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae
  • Romanian: pește lanternă — Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae