Standard Lemma guide

tench

name · noun · 4 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.

  • /tɛnt͡ʃ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛntʃ
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH1 N CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname.

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

A species of freshwater game fish, Tinca tinca.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A penitentiary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, obsolete, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

freshwater dace-like game fish of Europe and western Asia noted for ability to survive outside water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Tinca tinca

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cyprinid, cyprinid fish

History

Etymology

From Middle English tenche, from Old French tenche, from Late Latin tinca.

Contraction.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: tinkë — species of freshwater game fish
  • Albanian: linë — species of freshwater game fish
  • Albanian: linjak — species of freshwater game fish
  • Basque: tenka — species of freshwater game fish
  • Bulgarian: лин (lin) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Catalan: tenca — species of freshwater game fish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 丁鱖 /丁鳜 — species of freshwater game fish
  • Czech: lín — species of freshwater game fish
  • Danish: suder — species of freshwater game fish
  • Dutch: zeelt — species of freshwater game fish
  • Dutch: louw — species of freshwater game fish
  • Erzya: тутко (tutko) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Esperanto: tinko — species of freshwater game fish
  • Estonian: linask — species of freshwater game fish
  • Finnish: suutari — species of freshwater game fish
  • French: tanche — species of freshwater game fish
  • West-Frisian: mûdhûn — species of freshwater game fish
  • Galician: tenca — species of freshwater game fish
  • German: Schleie — species of freshwater game fish
  • Greek: κυπρίνος (kyprínos) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Hungarian: compó — species of freshwater game fish
  • Ido: tencho — species of freshwater game fish
  • Ingrian: hepokala — species of freshwater game fish
  • Irish: cúramán — species of freshwater game fish
  • Italian: tinca — species of freshwater game fish
  • Japanese: テンチ (tenchi) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Latgalian: leiņs — species of freshwater game fish
  • Latin: tinca — species of freshwater game fish
  • Latvian: līnis — species of freshwater game fish
  • Luxembourgish: Schlei — species of freshwater game fish
  • Middle English: tenche — species of freshwater game fish
  • Mongolian: үхэрдэй (üxerdej) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Norman: tanche — species of freshwater game fish
  • Polish: lin — species of freshwater game fish
  • Polish: oczeretniak — species of freshwater game fish
  • Portuguese: tenca — species of freshwater game fish
  • Russian: линь (linʹ) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Serbo-Croatian: linjak — species of freshwater game fish
  • Slovak: lieň — species of freshwater game fish
  • Southern Altai: кара балык (kara balïk) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Spanish: tenca — species of freshwater game fish
  • Sudovian: līnis — species of freshwater game fish
  • Swedish: sutare — species of freshwater game fish
  • Turkish: kadife balığı — species of freshwater game fish
  • Ottoman Turkish: كلیز بالغی (kiliz balığı) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Ukrainian: лин (lyn) — species of freshwater game fish
  • Welsh: ysgreten — species of freshwater game fish
  • Yiddish: שלעיין (shlayen) — species of freshwater game fish