stickleback
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.
stickleback
Where it comes from
From dialectal stickle (“a prickle, spine, sting”), from Old English sticel + bæc. See stick (transitive verb) and compare banstickle.
noun sticklebacks
-
Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct nests from weeds.
[I]n my exile and irkeſome diſcontented abandonment, the ſillieſt millers thombe, or contemptible ſtickle-banck of my enemies, is as buſie nibbling about my fame, as if I were a deade man throwne amongeſt them to feede vpon.
Similar: minnow, sticklebag, sharpling
Translations
Talk about this word "stickleback." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/stickleback. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. stickleback. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/stickleback "stickleback." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/stickleback.Cite this
@misc{stickleback_2026,
title = {stickleback},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/stickleback},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
