Pufferfish
//ˈpʌfɚˌfɪʃ// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any species of fish of the family Tetraodontidae that have the ability to inflate themselves to a globe several times their normal size by swallowing water or air when threatened; puffer, blowfish, swellfish, balloonfish, globefish. countable, uncountable
"Recently, however, a scientist in Britain proposed a short cut that would use the genome of the fugu, a pufferfish known as a dangerous delicacy among Japanese sushi eaters, to speed the search for human genes."
- 2 any of numerous marine fishes whose elongated spiny body can inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several species contain a potent nerve poison; closely related to spiny puffers wordnet
- 3 The meat of these fish, a delicacy popular in Japan served raw as sushi that may, if improperly prepared, contain deadly levels of neurotoxins; (Japanese) fugu. uncountable
- 4 delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison in ovaries and liver wordnet
Example
More examples"Pufferfish can be lethal if not prepared properly."
Etymology
From puffer + fish.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.