- any tropical marine spiny-finned fish of the family Acanthuridae, having a compressed brightly coloured body with one or more knifelike spines at the base of the tail
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
sur•geon•fish
(sûr′jən fish′),USA pronunciation n., pl. (esp. collectively) -fish, (esp. referring to two or more kinds or species) -fish•es.
- Fishany tropical, coral-reef fish of the family Acanthuridae, with one or more sharp spines near the base of the tail fin.
- 1870–75, American; surgeon + fish; so called from the resemblance of its spines to a surgeon's instruments
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
surgeonfish /ˈsɜːdʒənˌfɪʃ/ n ( pl -fish, -fishes)
'surgeonfish' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):