Sewen

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. A type of Atlantic salmon, especially a young salmon that returns from the sea to freshwater for the first time
2. A young sea trout or salmon that migrates from the ocean back to rivers, typically for spawning
3. A small salmonid fish, such as a sea trout or salmon, making its initial return from saltwater to a river

Etymology: Sewen is a Welsh-English term for a young sea-trout that has returned from the sea to fresh water, and it is closely tied to the word "sewin", the Welsh name for the brown trout. Speakers in Wales and the Welsh border counties used the two names for fish that were, in their eyes, close relatives, with the sea-going form marked off from the river-dwelling one. The sewen is a fish of the sea-trout kind, the same species as the brown trout, which spends time at sea and then comes back up rivers to spawn. The source relates the two words only by a "cf." link, meaning the one is comparable to the other, so the lineage is best read as a shared Welsh-based naming pattern rather than a simple derivation.

Synonyms: sewn, stitched, sewed