barbel Hear it!

barbel definition

bar·bel (bär′bəl)

noun

  1. a threadlike growth from the lips or jaws of certain fishes: it is an organ of touch
  2. any of a genus (Barbus) of large, European, freshwater cyprinoid fishes with such growths

Etymology: ME & OFr < ML barbellus < L barbula, dim. of barbus < barba, beard

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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