Pronunciation: ' säk- ˌ ī -
Function: noun
Etymology: by folk etymology from Northern Straits (Salishan language of southern Vancouver Island and nearby islands) s ə́ q ə y '
Date: 1869
: a commercially important Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) that is greenish blue above and silvery below when sexually immature and turns red with a greenish head when ascending rivers to spawn which it does chiefly from the Columbia northward ― called also red salmon sockeye ― compare KOKANEE