gill

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a respiratory organ by which fish and many other aquatic animals extract dissolved oxygen from water

   The trout pumps water across each gill to extract oxygen.

2. 2
   noun

   one of the thin radiating plates on the underside of a mushroom cap, where spores are produced

   The mushroom's pale gills released a fine cloud of spores.

Appears in

From Middle English gile, probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish gäl and Old Norse gjǫlnar, lips or jaws. The mushroom sense arose by resemblance between its radiating plates and a fish's breathing structures. The unrelated liquid-measure noun is pronounced with an initial j sound.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary