jellyfish
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
jellyfish
- /ˈd͡ʒɛliˌfɪʃ/
Rhymes with -ɛlifɪʃ
Where it comes from
From jelly + fish. From being an aquatic creature (i.e. fish) that is gelatinous (“jelly”). Despite the name, jellyfish are not biologically classified as fish.
The term appeared in the mid-19th century and displaced various older terms such as sea jelly (now much less common), blubber/sea blubber, nettle/sea nettle (both now referring to specific jellyfish species), and, in scientific literature, medusa.
noun jellyfish · jellyfishes
- An almost transparent aquatic animal; any one of the acalephs, especially one of the larger species, having a jellylike appearance. A recent study focused on the enzymatic and cytotoxic functions of jellyfish metalloproteases and identified diverse proteolytic effects including gelatinolytic, caseinolytic, and fibrinolytic activities.
- Any of various species of cnidarians in the subphylum Medusozoa, including box jellyfish (class Cubozoa), true jellyfish (class Scyphozoa), stalked jellyfish (class Staurozoa), and certain hydrozoans.
- The medusa phase of these animals rather than a younger life stage.
- A ctenophore, a member of the phylum Ctenophora (comb jellies).
- A sudoku technique involving possible cell locations for a digit, or pair, or triple, in uniquely four rows and four columns only. This allows for the elimination of candidates around the grid.
- Ellipsis of space jellyfish
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: medusan, medusa, portuguese man-of-war, man-of-war, envenomation, spineless, aurelia, stings, jelly-fish, jelly fish, acraspeda, jelly, sea jelly, moon jelly, scyphozoan, pelagiid
Translations
Every language
noun aquatic animal
| Español | aguamala, aguaviva, malagua, ortiga de mar, acafelo, ortiga marina |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 해파리 haepari |
| 日本語 | 海月 kurage, 水母 kurage, クラゲ kurage, すいぼ suibo |
| 中文 | 水母 shuǐmǔ, 海蜇 hǎizhé |
| हिन्दी | जेलिफ़िश jelifiś, गिजगिजिया gijgijiyā |
| Português | medusa, água-viva, alforreca |
| Français | méduse |
| Deutsch | Qualle, Meduse |
| Italiano | medusa |
| Ελληνικά | μέδουσα médousa, τσούχτρα tsoúchtra |
| Română | meduză |
| Русский | меду́за medúza |
| Tiếng Việt | sứa |
| العربية | قِنْدِيل الْبَحْر qindīl al-baḥr, قِنْدِيل qindīl |
| עברית | מֶדוּזָה meduzá |
Talk about this word "jellyfish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/jellyfish. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. jellyfish. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/jellyfish "jellyfish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/jellyfish.Cite this
@misc{jellyfish_2026,
title = {jellyfish},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/jellyfish},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
