English
tilefish
From tile + fish.
Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- ‘to cover’
…
Proto-Germanic *tigulǭ ‘tile, brick’
Proto-West Germanic *tigulā ‘tile, brick’
Old English tiġele ‘tile, brick’
Middle English tile
English tile
Proto-Indo-European *piskós
Proto-Germanic *fiskaz
Proto-West Germanic *fisk
Old English fisċ
Middle English fisch ‘an animal that inhabits the water or the meat…’
English fish
Today it means
noun Any of the mostly small, perciform marine fish in the family Malacanthidae; an important food fish.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tilefish”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / tilefish