Mackerel
/ˈmæk.ə.rəl/noun
A fast-swimming marine fish with a greenish back and striped sides, commonly eaten as food.
Did you know?Mackerel’s name is one of those old seafaring words whose exact path is debated, but it almost certainly arrived in English through Old French/Medieval Latin, showing how trade carried words as efficiently as fish.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*makrô / *makrila-
“A fish name of uncertain origin, likely referring to a mackerel-like fish”
Old French
OF
maquerel
“A mackerel”
Medieval Latin
ML
mackerellus / macreel
“A mackerel”
Middle English
ME
makerel / mackerel
“A mackerel”
Modern English
English
mackerel
“The common edible marine fish Scomber scombrus and related species”