Seafood

Seafood

Noun · /ˈsiːfuːd/ · fish and shellfish eaten as food

Definition

Seafood is a collective noun referring to edible aquatic animals — principally fish and shellfish — harvested from the sea, rivers, lakes, or farmed in aquaculture. The category includes finfish such as salmon, cod, and tuna, as well as shellfish including crustaceans like prawns and lobster, and molluscs like oysters, mussels, and squid. In everyday English, the word is used both as a food category and as an adjective: a seafood restaurant, a seafood platter, a seafood allergy.

Origin

The compound sea + food was formed in the nineteenth century as industrialisation and better transport made marine produce widely available inland. Before this, fish was the dominant term for edible sea creatures. As global cuisines merged and restaurant culture expanded, seafood became the standard umbrella term covering all edible ocean produce, displacing more specific or regional alternatives.