Meaning & use
Pilchards
Last updated
Small, oily fish related to herring, commonly known as European sardines when young.
See it in a sentence
The fishermen hauled in nets full of pilchards off the Cornish coast.
Tinned pilchards were a cheap, popular meal in postwar Britain.
A note on using this word
In British usage, "pilchard" traditionally refers to the adult fish, while the same species is called "sardine" when caught young; the fish are identical, only the name changes with size.
Words with a similar meaning
sardines
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