starfish

Etymology

It is formed from English star + fish.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares sea-star,^[2] and the creature was also simply called a star; in Ancient Greek, too, ἀστήρ (astḗr) was a star and a starfish.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sea animal with arms radiating from a central disc: 1538, in T. Elyot's Dictionary.^[2][6] Etymonline cites the early spelling starrefyshe from the 1530s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as a fish that branches out into several points.^[7] The OED applies the name mainly to the class Asteroidea and occasionally to Ophiuroidea,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford notes loose use for a brittle star or basket star.^[4] From 1840, in Paxton and Lindley's Pocket Botanical Dictionary, it was also a plant, the same as starfish flower,^[2] which the Shorter Oxford identifies as the stapelia.^[4] Green's Dictionary of Slang records it as a slang word for the anus from 2000, whence chocolate starfish.^[8]

Timeline

• 1538 – an echinoderm with arms radiating from a central disc.^[2][6]
• 1840 – the starfish flower.^[2]
• 2000 – slang, the anus.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marine echinoderm of the class Asteroidea, with a flattened body and usually five or more arms spreading from a central disc; also called a sea star.^[9][6][2][5]
2. Loosely, a similar animal such as a brittle star.^[2][4]
3. The stapelia, or starfish flower.^[2][4]
4. (slang) The anus.^[8]

Word family

• starfish flower
• crown-of-thorns starfish

Related words

• star
• fish
• sea-star

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins