noun
roe
ROH
noun
1
The mass of eggs inside a female fish, often eaten as food.
"The chef served the salmon roe on tiny toast rounds."
"She scooped a spoonful of orange roe onto the sushi."
2
The soft, sperm-filled reproductive gland of a male fish, sometimes called "soft roe".
"Soft roe has a much creamier texture than the hard, egg-filled kind."
How to Use Roe
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe eggs (or, less often, the sperm) found inside a fish, usually sold or served as food.
Common mistake
Roe is the eggs themselves, not a whole fish egg sac dish like caviar (which specifically means salted sturgeon roe).
Common pairings
fish roe
salmon roe
hard roe
soft roe
Word Forms
roes plural, Roes plural
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Etymology
From Old English hrogn, "spawn or fish eggs", tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root for frog spawn — it has nothing to do with the name Roe.