Shad
/ΚΓ¦d/noun
A silver, herring-like fish of the genus Alosa, especially important in North American rivers.
Did you know?Shad is one of those old fish names that likely survived from ancient Germanic speech into English with very little change, a linguistic fossil hiding in plain sight.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*skadwaz
βshadow, shadeβ
Old English
OE
sceadu
βshade, shadowβ
Middle English
ME
shad
βa fish name, possibly influenced by regional Germanic formsβ
Early Modern English
English
shad
βthe fish, especially the herring-like speciesβ
Modern English
English
shad
βa silver migratory fish of the herring familyβ