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porgy

 - 3 dictionary results

por⋅gy

  [pawr-gee]
Use porgy in a Sentence
–noun, plural (especially collectively) -gy, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) -gies.
1. a sparid food fish, Pagrus pagrus, found in the Mediterranean and off the Atlantic coasts of Europe and America.
2. any of several other sparid fishes, as the scup.
Origin:
1715–25; porg(o), var. of pargo (< Sp or Pg < L pag(a)rus kind of fish < Gk págros, var. of phágros) + -y 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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por·gy   (pôr'gē)   
n.   pl. porgy or por·gies

  1. Any of various deep-bodied marine food fishes of the family Sparidae, especially a common species Pagrus pagrus of Mediterranean and Atlantic waters.

  2. Any of several fishes similar to the porgy.


[Alteration of Spanish and Portuguese pargo, both alteration of Latin phager, a kind of fish, from Greek phagros, sea bream; see bhag- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

porgy 
name given to various sea fishes, 1725, probably from pargo (1557) "sea bream," from Sp. or Port. pargo, from L. phagrum, acc. of phager, from Gk. phagros "sea bream."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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