Small, silvery ocean fish often eaten smoked or pickled, or the plural of herring.
From Middle English 'heringe,' likely from Germanic languages. The fish was so economically important in medieval Europe that its name spread across many languages. The phrase 'red herring' (a misleading clue) dates back to the 1600s.
Herrings were so important to medieval European diets that they actually shaped history—fishing for herrings drove maritime technology and exploration, and a city like Amsterdam grew wealthy from herring trade! The fish was like the soybeans of the medieval world.
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