Banstickle

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small spiny-backed freshwater fish of the stickleback family, found in northern and Scottish waters
2. A dialect name for the small, prickly-finned fish known more widely as the stickleback
3. The tiny spiny fish of northern regions, which has sharp dorsal spines and builds nests in streams

Etymology: "Banstickle" is a compound of two Old English words: "bān", meaning bone, and "sticel", meaning prickle or sting. The name is apt, since the fish it designates is armored with sharp bony spines along its back. The "bone" element refers to these rigid spines rather than to the skeleton as a whole. The second element survives in "stickleback", the name of the family of small, spiny-backed fish that includes the banstickle. Both words share the same "sticel" root, so the banstickle is essentially the "bone-prickle" fish, the spines being its most conspicuous feature.

Synonyms: stickleback