Standard Lemma guide

needlefish

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.

  • /ˈniː.dəl.fɪʃ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N IY1 D AH0 L F IH2 SH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of certain species of slender fish, principally of the family Belonidae, many usually found in shallow marine habitats.

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

fish with long tubular snout and slim body covered with bony plates

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pipefish

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: teleost fish, teleost, teleostan

Narrower terms: dwarf pipefish, Syngnathus hildebrandi, deepwater pipefish, Cosmocampus profundus, seahorse, sea horse

3

noun

Meaning 3

elongate European surface-dwelling predacious fishes with long toothed jaws; abundant in coastal waters

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gar, billfish

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: teleost fish, teleost, teleostan

Narrower terms: timucu

History

Etymology

From needle + fish.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Abkhaz: агәы́рԥсыӡ (agwə́rpsədz) — slender fish
  • Asturian: chínfanu — slender fish
  • Asturian: aguya — slender fish
  • Bulgarian: морска игла (morska igla) — slender fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鶴鱵 /鹤𮬤 — slender fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鹤鱵 (hèzhēn) — slender fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 楊枝魚 /杨枝鱼 (yángzhīyú) — slender fish
  • Finnish: nokkakala — slender fish
  • French: aiguillette — slender fish
  • Galician: alcrique — slender fish
  • Georgian: ზღვისქარიყლაპიასებრნი (zɣviskariq̇laṗiasebrni) — slender fish
  • German: Hornhecht — slender fish
  • Greek: ζαργάνα (zargána) — slender fish
  • Greek: βελονίδα (velonída) — slender fish
  • Irish: snáthaid mhara — slender fish
  • Japanese: 駄津 (datsu) — slender fish
  • Malayalam: മുരൽ (mural) — slender fish
  • Norwegian Bokmål: horngjel — slender fish
  • Polish: belona — slender fish
  • Portuguese: agulhão — slender fish
  • Russian: игла́-ры́ба (iglá-rýba) — slender fish
  • Russian: морска́я игла́ (morskája iglá) — slender fish
  • Russian: сарга́н (sargán) — slender fish
  • Spanish: agujón — slender fish
  • Tagalog: suswi — slender fish
  • Tagalog: lungi — slender fish
  • Turkish: zargana — slender fish
  • Ottoman Turkish: زارغنه (zargana) — slender fish
  • Ukrainian: сарга́н (sarhán) — slender fish
  • Ukrainian: го́лка-ри́ба (hólka-rýba) — slender fish
  • Welsh: môr-nodwydd — slender fish