squawfish
squawfish Lexical Profile
squawfish Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A former, now deprecated common name for several species of large, predatory freshwater fish of the genus Ptychocheilus native to western North America, now officially known as the pikeminnow.
"In an effort to remove derogatory terminology from scientific nomenclature, researchers and anglers now refer to the Colorado squawfish as the Colorado pikeminnow."
Word Nuance & Usage
The term 'squawfish' is now widely considered offensive and culturally insensitive; the American Fisheries Society officially changed the common name of these species to 'pikeminnow' in 1998.
• Rhymes for squawfish
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
A compound of 'squaw' (an Algonquian loanword that evolved into a derogatory slur for Indigenous North American women) and 'fish'. Originally applied by 19th-century white settlers to various large minnows native to western North America.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.