fingerling

See also: Fingerling

English

fish (sense 1)

fingerling potatoes (sense 2)

Etymology

From Middle English fyngyrlynge, equivalent to finger +‎ -ling, from having the size of a human finger.

Noun

fingerling (plural fingerlings)

2. (zoology) A juvenile fish that has developed scales and working fins.
4. A type of small potato grown primarily in North America.
5. An infant weasel, stoat, ferret; esp. weasels.
6. (by extension) Any finger-sized version of something typically larger.
   • 2011, Gregory Maguire, “The Patchwork Conscience of Oz”, in Out of Oz (The Wicked Years), New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN, page 160:

     Oh, but those little crab-lingered fingerlings really wanted to get in! Now some were trying to claw up through an old knothole whose bole had aged and didn’t sit true in the plank. […] But here came the dwarf opening her door, and the spiderlets melted away.

Further reading

• fingerling (fish) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fingerling potato on Wikipedia.Wikipedia