Skip to content

What’s the Plural of Salmon?

Last Updated
Picture of Elan Yash

Elan Yash

Elan is head of design and tech. He's also a contributor at Grammarflex.

What’s the plural of “salmon”?

👍🏼Usage Note
✓
I saw a salmon swimming in the river.
✓
There were many deer grazing in the field.
✗
We caught several salmons on our fishing trip.
✗
The zoo has three bisons in the enclosure.

It’s kind of a trick question. Just like other types of fish, and the word ‘fish‘ itself, salmon keeps its singular form even when it’s used as a plural. This means that whether you want to say there’s one or more salmon, you can just use salmon. See the word in context:

I just saw a salmon swimming in the lake!

That’s because tons of salmon swim in this lake.

What’s the singular of salmon?

As mentioned, the singular of salmon is also salmon, and so is the plural. English is weird that way.

What is a salmon?

The Cambridge online dictionary defines salmon as:

A medium-sized silver-coloured fish that lives in the sea or rivers and swims up rivers to produce its eggs. Its pink flesh is eaten as a food:  fresh/smoked/tinned salmon; salmon mousse; salmon fishing.
💡Study Tip

The plural of “salmon” is the same as the singular, just like “fish” or “deer”: one salmon, many salmon.

Irregular plural nouns that stay the same

The following irregular nouns do not change between their singular and plural forms:  

singular plural
salmon salmon
moose moose
fish fish (sometimes fishes)
elk elk
deer deer
bison bison (or bisons)

Examples of the word salmon used in sentences

The following sentences show the correct use of the word salmon in context:

1. I chose the salmon for my main course.

2. Thousands of young salmon have been killed by the pollution.

3. Over the past 20 years this parasite has caused significant economic losses in farmed salmon production and possibly in wild salmonid populations locally.

4. About 1,700 fish were saved, of which over half were either trout or juvenile salmon. (From the Hansard archive.)

5. Salmon are intensively farmed in many parts of the world.

Origin of the word salmon  

From etymology online on salmon (n.),

“Early 13c., samoun, the North Atlantic salmon, from Anglo-French samoun, Old French salmun (Modern French saumon), from Latin salmonem (nominative salmo) “a salmon.”

Sources  

  1. Definition of salmon.
  2. Origin of salmon.
  3. Synonyms for salmon.

Worksheet

Question 1 of 10

According to the blog post, what is the correct plural of “salmon”?



Which sentence correctly uses the plural form of “deer”, according to the post?



Based on the blog post, which statement about the word “salmon” is true?



Which of the following words, mentioned in the post, also has the same singular and plural form?



According to the post, when referring to more than one salmon, you should say:



We caught several on our fishing trip.



There were many grazing in the field.



Thousands of young have been killed by pollution.



The blog post notes that using “” as the plural of salmon is incorrect.



Words like salmon, deer, and bison are examples of irregular nouns that remain the in the plural form.





FAQs

What is the plural of “salmon”?
+

The plural form of “salmon” is “salmon”. The word stays the same whether you mean one fish or many, similar to “fish” itself or “deer”. Using “salmons” is incorrect.

Is “salmons” the correct plural?
+

No, the post explicitly states that using “salmons” is incorrect. The word “salmon” serves as both the singular and plural form, for example, “We caught several salmon” is correct.

How does the singular of “salmon” work?
+

The singular form of “salmon” is also “salmon”. The word does not change when referring to a single fish or multiple fish, as noted in the post’s usage notes.

Are there other words like “salmon”?
+

Yes, the post notes that “salmon” is like other irregular nouns where the singular and plural forms are the same. Examples listed include “deer”, “fish”, “bison”, “moose”, and “elk”.

Can you give examples of using “salmon”?
+

The post provides examples like “I saw a salmon swimming” for one fish, and “Thousands of young salmon” or “Salmon are intensively farmed” for multiple fish using the same word form.

Yash, D. "What’s the Plural of Salmon?." Grammarflex, Jun 23, 2025, https://www.grammarflex.com/whats-the-plural-of-salmon/.

The latest from the Grammarflex blog

From grammar and writing to style and clarity, our experts tackle the biggest questions in English and content creation.