Herling

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small fish of the herring family, often referring to a young herring or a sprat caught in shoals
2. The name given to a young herring or to a similar small fish that swims in large shoals near the coast
3. A slender silvery fish related to the herring, typically a juvenile or diminutive member of its species

Etymology: "Herling" is an English noun for a small fish, most often the sprat or a young herring, though the name has also been applied to a few other slender fish and, in older usage, to a kind of smoked or salted herring. The word is a diminutive formed on "herring," the older form of which was "hering," with the suffix "-ling" that English uses to mark something small or young, as in "gosling" or "fledgling." The word is therefore a transparent compound rather than a borrowing: a small herring. Its base goes back to Old English "hæring," and the diminutive pattern is native English throughout, so the history of "herling" is largely the history of "herring" with a suffix attached.