Squid

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /skwɪd/

Definitions

1. A marine cephalopod mollusk with a long soft body, ten arms bearing suckers, and the ability to eject ink as a defense mechanism
2. An ocean-dwelling cephalopod known for its elongated body, ten tentacles equipped with suction cups, and its capability to release ink for protection
3. This marine animal features a soft, elongated form, possesses ten appendages lined with suckers, and can expel ink to escape predators

Etymology: The most surprising fact is that nobody is quite sure where "squid" comes from. One proposal is that sailors altered "squirt," a plausible fit for an animal that jets water and ink. Another is that it blends "stupid" and "quick," but the tidy story attached to that blend, "stupid, quick, under-dressed and imminently dead," is almost certainly a backronym, a phrase invented afterwards to fit the letters. Modern usage has a twist of its own. The word has been given a new life through the Korean television series "Squid Game," which is the reason many English speakers now meet it in a new context. The Korean word "ojing'eo" means "squid, cuttlefish," and the English term is a semantic loan from it: the meaning of the Korean word was matched by the existing English term rather than borrowed as a new word.

Synonyms: cephalopod, inkfish