lamprey

From Middle English laumprei, from Old French lampreie (modern French lamproie), from Medieval Latin lampreda, possibly alteration of Late Latin lampetra (“lamprey”), whose further origin is unknown, though it is traditionally thought to be a combination of lambō (“I lick, lap”) + petra (“stone, rock”). Doublet of limpet, which derives from Latin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæm.pɹi/, /ˈlæm.pɹeɪ/

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• Hyphenation: lam‧prey

lamprey (countable and uncountable, plural lampreys)

1. Any long slender primitive eel-like freshwater and saltwater fish of the order Petromyzontiformes, having a sucking mouth with rasping teeth but no jaw.

• lamprey in Oxford English Dictionary, volume VI, 1908
• “lamprey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Parmley, palmery