tuna

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈtjuːnə/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈtunə, ˈtju-/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(to̅o̅nə, tyo̅o̅-)

Inflections of 'tuna' (n):
tuna
npl
tunas
npl (Mainly used to talk about two or more kinds—e.g. "Tunas, such as skipjack and yellowfin, are large fish.")

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
tu•na1 /ˈtunə, ˈtyu-/USA pronunciation   n., pl. (esp. when thought of as a group) -na, (esp. for kinds or species) -nas. 
  1. Fish[countable] a large sea-dwelling food fish, including the albacore and yellowfin tuna.
  2. Fish[uncountable] Also called ˈtu•na ˌfish. the flesh of the tuna, used as food.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
tu•na1  (to̅o̅nə, tyo̅o̅-),USA pronunciation n., pl. (esp. collectively) -na,  (esp. referring to two or more kinds or species) -nas. 
  1. Fishany of several large food and game fishes of the family Scombridae, inhabiting temperate and tropical seas. Cf. albacore, bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna. 
  2. Fishany of various related fishes.
  3. FishAlso called tuna fish′. the flesh of the tuna, used as food.
  • Greek thýnnos tunny
  • Arabic al the + tūn
  • American Spanish, variant of Spanish atún
  • 1880–85, American.

tu•na2  (to̅o̅nə, tyo̅o̅-),USA pronunciation n. 
  1. Plant Biologyany of various prickly pears, esp. either of two erect, treelike species, Opuntia tuna or O. ficus-indica, of Mexico, bearing a sweet, edible fruit.
  2. Plant Biologythe fruit of these plants.
  • Taino
  • Spanish
  • 1545–55

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
tuna / ˈtjuːnə/ ( -na, -nas)
  1. Also called: tunny any of various large marine spiny-finned fishes of the genus Thunnus, esp T. thynnus, chiefly of warm waters: family Scombridae. They have a spindle-shaped body and widely forked tail, and are important food fishes
  2. any of various similar and related fishes
Etymology: 20th Century: from American Spanish, from Spanish atún, from Arabic tūn, from Latin thunnus tunny, from Greek
tuna / ˈtjuːnə/
  1. any of various tropical American prickly pear cacti, esp Opuntia tuna, that are cultivated for their sweet edible fruits
Etymology: 16th Century: via Spanish from Taino
'tuna' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Collocations: a tuna [salad, sandwich, melt], a tuna steak, eat tuna fish, more...

Forum discussions with the word(s) "tuna" in the title:


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