poisonous pufferfish

/ˈpɔɪzənəs ˈpʌfərfɪʃ/

noun phrase

  1. A pufferfish that can inflate itself and contains poison, especially tetrodotoxin, which can cause serious illness or death if eaten.

    B1

    countable; pufferfish can be singular or plural

    • "The poisonous pufferfish can be dangerous to eat."A2
    • "Some poisonous pufferfish contain a powerful toxin in their organs."B1
    • "Although poisonous pufferfish are a delicacy in Japan, they must be prepared by specially trained chefs."B2

Common mistakes

  • venomous pufferfish→poisonous pufferfish

    Poisonous means harmful when eaten or touched; venomous means that an animal injects its toxin by biting or stinging.

  • pufferfish is harmless→pufferfish is highly toxic

    Many people mistakenly believe pufferfish are harmless, but they contain a potent toxin.

Collocations

eat poisonous pufferfishprepare pufferfishpowerful toxintetrodotoxin poisoning

Word family

pufferfishpoisonpoisonouspoisoningtoxinfugu