Togue

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large freshwater char found in deep northern lakes, prized by anglers and known for its spotted silvery body
2. A big northern freshwater fish of the char family, often called lake trout, that lives in cold deep lakes
3. Another name for the lake trout, a large spotted fish native to cold, deep freshwater lakes in North America

Etymology: The lake trout's name, "togue," reached English from Canadian French, and before that from one of the Algonquian languages of northeastern North America. French speakers in New France encountered the fish in the cold, deep lakes of the region and took over the local name rather than inventing their own, a pattern that repeated across many North American animals and places. English speakers then borrowed the French form, so the word carries a small record of that early contact between the two languages on the continent. Because the fish lives in deep, cold water, anglers in the northern lakes long knew it under this name, and the word stayed largely regional rather than spreading through general English. Its meaning has stayed fixed on one species, so the term tells you little beyond what kind of fish it names.

Synonyms: lake trout, mackinaw, namaycush