A roe can mean several different things depending on context. Most commonly, it refers either to fish eggs used as food or to a financial ratio called return on equity.
Food meaning
In cooking and seafood, roe is the mass of eggs of fish and some other marine animals, either still inside the ovaries or released as an egg cluster. Roe is eaten in many cuisines, both cooked and raw, and includes delicacies such as caviar, which is made from the roe of sturgeon.
Finance meaning (ROE)
In business and investing, ROE usually stands for return on equity. Return on equity is a profitability ratio that measures how much net income a company generates relative to its shareholders’ equity, often expressed as a percentage using the formula ROE = net income ÷ shareholders’ equity.
Employment meaning (Canada)
In Canadian employment and taxation contexts, ROE also stands for Record of Employment. A Record of Employment is a form employers must issue when an employee has an interruption of earnings, and it is used to determine eligibility for Employment Insurance benefits.
