Abudefduf

noun

Ab·​u·​def·​duf

ˌabüˈdef(ˌ)dəf

: a genus of small ovate short-headed marine teleost fishes commonly found about rocks and other submerged objects and usually included in the percoid family Pomacentridae but sometimes made the type of a separate family (Abudefdufidae)

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, borrowed from Arabic abūdafdūf

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

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