jellyfish

jellyfish — noun

1. an ocean animal with a soft, see-through body that moves through the water and c

1.nounB1
Definition

an ocean animal with a soft, see-through body that moves through the water and can give a painful sting when its long, thin arms (called tentacles) touch someone's skin

Example

Niran carefully stepped around a jellyfish that had washed up on the sand.

The beach was closed after a child was stung by a jellyfish near the rocks.

passive: beach / child stung by [noun]

Common collocations
  • be stung by a jellyfish
  • jellyfish sting
  • jellyfish tentacles
  • jellyfish wash up (on the beach)
  • jellyfish bloom
  • jellyfish species

Word family

  • jelly
    nounB1
  • jelly-like
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

The everyday word is jellyfish — this is what most people say at the beach or in conversation. Sea jellies is a term some marine scientists prefer, arguing that jellyfish are not true fish, but learners will rarely hear it in daily life. Medusa is a technical biological name for the adult, free-swimming body form of a jellyfish; you would only encounter it in a zoology textbook or a marine biology class. The short form jelly is occasionally used informally ('That jelly stung me!'), but it can also cause confusion with the fruit spread, so it is safest to stick with jellyfish in most situations.

sea jelliesmedusajelly

Common collocations

Nouns

  • jellyfish sting
  • jellyfish tentacles
  • jellyfish species
  • jellyfish bloom

Phrases

  • be stung by a jellyfish
  • jellyfish wash up on the beach
  • swarm of jellyfish

Prepositions

  • of jellyfish
  • from jellyfish

Etymology

Old FrenchLatinEnglish

The word jellyfish is a compound formed from jelly (a soft, wobbly substance) and fish (an aquatic animal). It entered English around the early 1700s, chosen because the creature's body looks and feels like jelly. The 'fish' part was used loosely — at the time, many sea creatures were called fish even if they were not true fish. The Chinese name 水母 (shuǐ mǔ, literally 'water mother') comes from a different cultural image, comparing the creature to a mother floating in the sea.