betta
noun
Example Sentences
New York Times, 14 May 2021 An unnamed blue betta, the fish was dying as the temperature inside Oyo’s apartment dropped overnight due to an ongoing power shortage. Nic Garcia, Dallas News, 16 Feb. 2021 Never mind that the usable life of most gadgets lasts about as long as the average betta fish, fated to swim around a glass bowl for a year or two until it is dumped, unceremoniously, down the toilet. Arielle Pardes, Wired, 17 Jan. 2020 Maybe next to our deceased betta fish, under the redwood trees? Vanessa Hua, SFChronicle.com, 5 July 2019 A domestic dispute in Connecticut ended with significant property damage, including a woman's betta fish being cut in half. Ajc Homepage, ajc, 29 Apr. 2017 Word History
borrowed from New Latin Betta, genus name, borrowed from Javanese betah (phonetically b̥ətah with breathy voice following b̥), in the phrase wader betah (wader "any of various freshwater fishes"), probably the same word as betah "endure" (going back to Old Javanese bĕtah "possessing staying power, tenacious, stubborn")
Note: The genus name Betta was introduced by the Dutch physician and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1819-78) in "Bijdrage tot de kennis der ichthyologische fauna van Midden- en Oost-Java," Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschapen, Deel 23 (1850), p. 14. Bleeker lists the local name (nomen indigenum) of his Betta trifasciata at Ambarawa (central Java) as "Ikan Wader betta" (with Malay ikan "fish" prefacing all the indigenous names).
1887, in the meaning defined above