# shad

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃæd/ · frequency rank #35,509

## Definitions
1. Any one of several species of food fishes that make up the genus Alosa in the family Clupeidae, to which the herrings also belong; river herring.
2. Any bluefish of the species Pomatomus saltatrix.

## Etymology
From Middle English shadde, from Old English sceadd, possibly from Celtic (compare Scottish Gaelic sgadan (“herring”), Welsh ysgadan) or from Scandinavian/North Germanic (compare dialectal Norwegian skadd (“small whitefish”), Old Norse skata (“kind of fish”)), but the order of borrowing is unclear and the ultimate origin of these words is obscure.

## Easily confused with
- **she** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-she)
- **shy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-shy)
- **spa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-spa)
- **Sid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sid)
- **shi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-shi)
- **STD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-std)
- **STA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sta)
- **SPD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-spd)
- **sod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sod)
- **SSD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-ssd)
- **sho** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sho)
- **sia** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sia)
- **Syd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-syd)
- **ska** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-ska)
- **shh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-shh)
- **SMA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sma)
- **SoA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-soa)
- **SSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-ssa)
- **SLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sla)
- **sud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shad-vs-sud)

## Common misspellings (6)
`hsad`, `sahd`, `shadd`, `shda`, `shhad`, `sshad`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/shad