tuna

B1 Topic:Animals

US /ˈtjuː.nə/ UK /ˈtjuː.nə/ See IPA manual

Freq #6664

Meanings

1

noun
A large sea fish that is often eaten as food.

Tuna can swim very fast over long distances.
2

noun
The flesh of this fish eaten as food, often sold in cans.

I made a tuna sandwich for lunch.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a large sea fish that is... tunnytuna fish

2 noun · the flesh of this fish... tuna fish

Word family

Forms tunas

Related forms xoconostle

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

tuna fish
tuna used as food

Noun + noun

Etymology

Etymology tree Arabic اَلْ (al-) Phoenicianbor. Ancient Greek θῠ́ννος (thŭ́nnos)bor. Latin thunnusbor. Arabic تُنّ (tunn) Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn) Andalusian Arabicbor. Old Spanish atun Spanish atúnder. United States Spanish tunabor. English tuna Borrowed from United States Spanish tuna, alteration of Spanish atún, from Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn, “tuna”), from Latin thunnus, itself from Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos). Possibly in the sense of "darter" from thynein "to dart along". Doublet of tonno.

atún Spanish تن Arabic thunnus Latin θύννος Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# tuna

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtjuː.nə/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtjuː.nə/
**Frequency rank:** 6664

## Meanings
1. A large sea fish that is often eaten as food.
2. The flesh of this fish eaten as food, often sold in cans.

## Examples
- Tuna can swim very fast over long distances.
- I made a tuna sandwich for lunch.

## Synonyms
- tunny

## Related Forms
- xoconostle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: atún
- Root: تن
- Root: thunnus
- Root: θύννος

## Etymology
Etymology tree Arabic اَلْ (al-) Phoenicianbor. Ancient Greek θῠ́ννος (thŭ́nnos)bor. Latin thunnusbor. Arabic تُنّ (tunn) Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn) Andalusian Arabicbor. Old Spanish atun Spanish atúnder. United States Spanish tunabor. English tuna Borrowed from United States Spanish tuna, alteration of Spanish atún, from Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn, “tuna”), from Latin thunnus, itself from Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos). Possibly in the sense of "darter" from thynein "to dart along". Doublet of tonno.

## AI Etymology
Tuna is borrowed from United States Spanish tuna, alteration of Spanish atún, from Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn, “tuna”), from Latin thunnus, itself from Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos). Possibly in the sense of "darter" from thynein "to dart along". Doublet of tonno. The historical chain runs through Spanish atún, Arabic تن, Latin thunnus, Ancient Greek θύννος. In present-day use, it can mean a large sea fish that is often eaten as food, or the flesh of this fish eaten as food, often sold in cans.

## Topics
- Animals

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