means A soft-bodied marine mollusk with ten arms, two of them long tentacles, a tubular body, and the ability to shoot ink and jet through water.

from From English 'squid,' which surfaces in the 16th century as a sailor's word of murky origin — quite possibly a dialect variant of 'squirt,' nodding to the creature's habit of jetting water and ink. The plural has wandered cheerfully between 'squid' and 'squids' ever since. Its scientific kin carry grander Latin and Greek names, but 'squid' itself stays stubbornly common, a deckhand's term that never put on airs.