cuttlefish

noun

cut·​tle·​fish ˈkə-tᵊl-ˌfish 

: any of various marine cephalopod mollusks (order Sepiida, especially genus Sepia) having eight short arms and two usually longer tentacles and differing from the related squid in having a calcified internal shell

Illustration of cuttlefish

Examples of cuttlefish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Signature dishes include black spaghetti with sea urchins, ricotta, and cuttlefish and a ravishingly good pork-belly secondis. —Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026

Per Corriere della Sera, investigators returned to the family home and seized foods, including mussels, cuttlefish, cod, clams and mushrooms, which were sent to the Molise Zooprophylactic Institute in Rome for testing and potential poisoning. —Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 30 Dec. 2025

Nurse and reef sharks prowl for their next meal, lionfish hide in plain sight, and a cuttlefish scurries by. —Peter Kelly, Travel + Leisure, 18 Aug. 2025

Standout dishes include cuttlefish carpaccio with herring, mackerel in saor, lasagna with blue lobster busara, and ravioli with tuna belly. —Jenn Rice, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English cotul + English fish

First Known Use

1591, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cuttlefish

• jellyfish
• sablefish
• bluefish
• catfish
• codfish
• crawfish
• dogfish
• finfish
• flatfish
• goldfish
• groundfish
• kingfish

Kids Definition

cuttlefish

noun

cut·​tle·​fish -ˌfish 

: a marine mollusk having eight short arms and two longer tentacles and differing from the related squid in having an internal shell composed of compounds of calcium