Dealfish

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A long, silvery, ribbon-shaped deep-sea fish belonging to the family Trachipteridae, with a tall dorsal fin and a compressed body
2. Any slender, ribbonlike marine fish of the family Trachipteridae that lives in the deep ocean and swims in an upright posture
3. A deep-water fish in the family Trachipteridae, notable for its elongated, flattened body and long crest-like dorsal fin

Etymology: A dealfish is a deep-sea fish, and its name describes its body rather than its habits. The first half comes from "deal," a word for a slice of sawn timber or a plank, the sort of thin board that sawmills cut from pine and fir. The fish is long, flat-sided and ribbon-shaped, so it looks like a plank that has been planed down and dropped into the water, and the name simply transfers that image to the animal. The "fish" half is the ordinary English word, so the compound needs little explanation. What makes it striking is how literal the naming is: the creature was labelled by someone who saw a piece of lumber in its outline, and the word has kept that wooden picture ever since.