Weakfishes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Any of several marine fish of the drum family, native to Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters, valued for food and sport fishing
2. Saltwater fish in the genus Cynoscion and related genera, characterized by a weak mouth structure and known for their sporting appeal
3. A game and food fish found in coastal waters, belonging to the drum family and notable for its tender jaw structure that readily tears free from hooks

Etymology: "Weakfishes" is the plural of "weakfish," a saltwater fish of the Atlantic coast. The fish's name is a calque, a word-for-word translation, of Dutch "weekvis" or "weekvisch," and the Dutch name is built from "week," meaning soft or tender, and "vis," meaning fish. The reason for the name lies in the fish's mouth, which is easily torn by a hook, so an angler had to play it gently. English speakers who borrowed the name simply translated its parts, giving "weak" the sense of "soft" or "tender" rather than "feeble." The English word therefore does not describe the fish as a weak swimmer or a poor fighter. It refers to the delicate tissue of the mouth, and the English name keeps the Dutch sense of softness while the modern adjective "weak" points somewhere else entirely.

Synonyms: drums, croakers