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plaice (PLAYS) - n., any of a handful of right-eyed marine flounders of the family Pleuronectidae, esp. the European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa).
Most plaice are commercially fished. They are "right-eyed" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The name dates to the late 13th century, from Anglo-French plais, from Old French plaïz, from Late Latin platessa, flatfish, from Greek platýs, flat/broad, from the same PIE root that gave us flat. A Pleuronectes platessa:
Thanks, Wikimedia!
And with that, I'll stop posting fish names for a while -- though there's still oodles more that are fun to say. Back next week with the usual random assortment of words.
---L.
Most plaice are commercially fished. They are "right-eyed" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The name dates to the late 13th century, from Anglo-French plais, from Old French plaïz, from Late Latin platessa, flatfish, from Greek platýs, flat/broad, from the same PIE root that gave us flat. A Pleuronectes platessa:
Thanks, Wikimedia!
And with that, I'll stop posting fish names for a while -- though there's still oodles more that are fun to say. Back next week with the usual random assortment of words.
---L.
