snoek

English

Alternative forms

• snook

Etymology

Borrowed from Afrikaans snoek, from Dutch snoek, from Middle Dutch snoec. Some senses come from or are influenced by Dutch zeesnoek (“barracuda”, literally “sea pike”), a word that Van Riebeeck applied to the Thyrsites atun.

pike (Thyrsites atun, snoek) for sale

Noun

snoek

1. (South Africa) An edible fish, Thyrsites atun, native to South African (Cape), South American and Australian waters, often smoked or salted.
   • 2003, Oceanographic Literature Review, Volume 50, Issues 1-2600, page 348,

     Snoek (Thyrsites atun) is a valuable commercial species and an important predator of small pelagic fishes in the Benguela ecosystem. The South African population attains 50% sexual maturity at a fork length of ca.73.0 cm (3 years). Spawning occurs offshore during winter-spring, along the shelf break (150-400 m) of the western Agulhas Bank and the South African west coast

   • 2004, Calvin Trillin, The strange attraction of snoek: The New Yorker, volume 80, page lxxxvi:

     My friend Jeffrey Jowell, who grew up in Cape Town, has lived away from South Africa for more than forty years, yearning for snoek the entire time. He thinks about fried snoek and grilled snoek and dried snoek and snoek made into pâté. He may miss smoked snoek most of all. Any mention of snoek—a long, bony fish that looks like a second cousin of a barracuda—triggers memories in Jeffrey of his childhood.

   • 2005, Alicia Wilkinson, Complete South African Fish & Seafood Cookbook, page 58:

     Snoek need not be scaled. The scales are very fine and usually slip off during handling.

2. (South Africa, Natal) The queen mackerel, Scomberomorus lineolatus.
3. (South Africa, Transkei) Any of several species of barracuda.

Synonyms

• barracouta (Australian)

Derived terms

• smoor snoek
• snoeking

References

1978: A dictionary of South African English. Ed. Jean Branford. Oxford.

Anagrams

• Kones, Nosek, Senko, Snoke, soken

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch snoek, from Middle Dutch snoec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snuk/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

snoek (plural snoeke)

1. snoek, mackerel, Thyrsites atun

Derived terms

• smoorsnoek
• snoekvanger

Descendants

• → English: snoek

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch snoec, from Proto-Germanic *snōkᵏa-, a thematic o-grade of *snakaną (“to crawl around”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snuk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: snoek
• Rhymes: -uk

Noun

snoek m (plural snoeken, diminutive snoekje n)

1. pike (any fish of the genus Esox)
2. pike, Northern pike, Esox lucius

   Synonym: gewone snoek

Derived terms

• gewone snoek
• snoekachtig
• snoekbaars
• snoekmakreel
• zeesnoek

Descendants

• Afrikaans: snoek
  • → English: snoek
• → Papiamentu: snuk, snoek
• → Sranan Tongo: snuku
  • → Kari'na: sinuku