sunfish
3 synonyms for sunfish, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — Any of various small freshwater fishes of the family Centrarchidae, often brightly coloured and flattened from side to side.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
headfish
mola
centrarchid
How to use sunfish
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
ocean sunfish
catch a sunfish
school of sunfish
freshwater sunfish
It is a neutral, everyday word for a kind of animal.
Etymology
The word is a compound of sun and fish. For the type of fish, the name is perhaps a reference to the rounded shape of the body.
Full origin of sunfish →Frequently asked questions
What is a sunfish?
Sunfish is the name for two groups of fish: small freshwater fishes of the family Centrarchidae and large sea fishes of the family Molidae.
What is the plural of sunfish?
The plural can be either sunfish or sunfishes.
Why is it called a sunfish?
The word combines sun and fish, and the name perhaps refers to the rounded shape of the fish's body.
