fish
/fɪʃ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/fɪ̝ʃ/
fish noun: a typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod.
Noun (1)
fish (countable and uncountable, plural fish or fishes)
- A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod.
- Salmon is a fish.
- The fishmonger sells fishes from all over the world.
- Any vertebrate, including tetrapods.
- Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.
- The whale, the limpet, the tortoise and the oyster… as men have been willing to give them all the name of fishes, it is wisest for us to conform.1774, Oliver Goldsmith, History of the Earth and Animated Nature, volume IV
- Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
- Now used in combination: (e.g., starfish, cuttlefish, jellyfish, etc).
- Cod; codfish.
- The flesh of the fish used as food.
- The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta.
- Though Lena is a vegetarian, she doesn't have any problem with eating fish.
- An aquatic or semiaquatic animal suitable for consumption during fasting on Fridays during Lent.
- Since the semi-aquatic beaver was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared it to be a fish for dietary purposes.2017 April 7, sjchurchadmin, Saint Joachim Catholic Church
- Throughout the Catholic Church's long history, archbishops and other prominent church leaders have made numerous declarations about which animals can be considered "fish for the purposes of Lent, even if those animals have virtually no similarities to fish in a scientific sense.2023 February 20, William Taylor Potter, The Daily Advertiser
- A card game in which the object is to obtain cards in pairs or sets of four (depending on the variation), by asking the other players for cards of a particular rank.
- Synonyms:
- Go Fish
- An easy victim for swindling.
- Synonyms:
- mark
- A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).
- A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
- A purchase used to fish the anchor.
- A torpedo (self-propelled explosive device).
- The second and third fish went to the middle of her long superstructure and under her forward deck.1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books, published 2003, page 344
- As we came off patrol we had some torpedoes fired at us by an enemy submarine but we dived out of the way. About April 10 we fired our fish in two salvoes at a convoy.1999, John Winton, The Submariners: Life in British Submarines 1901-1999, page 114
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- The thirty-fourth Lenormand card.
- A (feminine) woman. (See also fishy.)
- A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.
- When a young male enters the prison system he is looked over and is labeled a FISH.1986 April 19, Michael Rathbone, “Tell Someone”, in Gay Community News, page 4
- A male homosexual; a gay man.
- Him father is a fish so mi know say it's sprat dat2007, “Touch The Road” (track 18), in Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, performed by Mavado (singer)
- Bere gunman deh ya we nuh fren fish (hey bwoy)2021 August 4, “Street Cred”performed by Skeng
- A drag queen or transgender woman who looks like a cisgender woman.
- A spaceship.
Noun (2)
fish (plural fishes)
- A period of time spent fishing.
- The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.
- An instance of seeking something.
- Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.
Verb
fish (third-person singular simple present fishes, present participle fishing, simple past and past participle fished)
- To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea.
- We went fishing for crabs by the pier.
- She went to the river to fish for trout.
- To search (a body of water) for something other than fish.
- They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.
- To use as bait when fishing.
- `What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. `Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 40
- To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.
- Why are you fishing through my things?
- He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.
- To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.
- The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.
- The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.
- Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
- To repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).
- […] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars.1970, James Henderson, The Frigates, an account of the lesser warships of the wars from 1793 to 1815, Wordsworth, published 1998, page 143
- Synonyms:
- angle, drop in a line
- To hoist the flukes of.
- Found that the cause of the ship's having drifted on the night of the 19th, was from the bight of the chain span (used to fish the anchor,) having slipped between the shank and upper fluke, thereby preventing the lower fluke from opening […]1860, Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, page 214
- To draw or guide (a wire or cable) by means of fish tape.
Noun (3)
fish (plural fishes)
- A counter, used in various games.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Fish
Fish (plural Fishes)
- A surname.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Fish
the Fish
- The constellation and zodiacal sign Pisces.
- The Fiſh directeth the feet: and theſe three be the ſigns of Winter.1668, ‘Godfridus’, The Knowledge of Things Unknown, London: G.P. for G. Sawbridge, page 20
- The Fish, His Church in union bound;
The Lamb, once slain, but now enthroned;
The Bull the victory shall gain;
The Twins, Divine and human reign.1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations: Part III, London: Rivingtons, page 7
- Synonyms:
- Fishes
Noun (4) capitalized: FISH
FISH (uncountable)
- Acronym of fluorescent in situ hybridization, a molecular cytogenetic technique used to identify whether a DNA sample has a specific sequence.
fish meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fish in Hindi
- vertebrate animal
- मछली machlī, मत्स्य matsya, माही māhī, मीन mīn, मच्छी macchī
- flesh of fish as food
- मीन mīn
fish in Tamil
- vertebrate animal
- மீன் mīṉ
fish in Marathi
- vertebrate animal
- मासा māsā
fish in Urdu
- vertebrate animal
- مَچْھلی machlī, ماہی māhī, مَتْسیَہ matsya
More languagesFewer languages
- fish in Bengali
- মাছ mach
- fish in Telugu
- చేప cēpa, మత్స్యము matsyamu
- fish in Malayalam
- മീന് mīṉ, മത്സ്യം matsyaṁ, മീൻപിടിക്കുക mīṉpiṭikkuka
- fish in Kannada
- ಮೀನು mīnu
- fish in Punjabi
- ਮੱਛੀ macchī
- fish in Gujarati
- માછલી māchlī, જલચર jalcar
- fish in Odia
- ମୀନ mina, ମତ୍ସ୍ଯ matsja
- fish in Sanskrit
- मत्स्य matsya, मीन mīna, झष jhaṣá
- fish in Sinhala
- මාළුවා māḷuwā
- fish in Assamese
- মাছ mas
- fish in Nepali
- माछा māchā
- fish in Pashto
- کب kab, ماهي mâhi
- fish in Tagalog
- isda
- fish in Arabic
- سَمَكَة samaka, سَمَك samak, حُوت ḥūt, سمك samak
- fish in Malay
- ikan, menangkap ikan, memancing
- fish in Indonesian
- ikan, memancing
- fish in Persian
- مَاهِی māhī, ماهی mâhi, ماهیگیری mâhi-giri
- fish in Thai
- ปลา bplaa, มีน miin, ตกปลา dtòk-bplaa, ประมง bprà-mong
- fish in Vietnamese
- cá, câu cá
- fish in Myanmar
- ငါး nga:
- Sindhi
- मच्छी
- Dhivehi
- މަސް mas
- Kashmiri
- گاڈ gāḍ
- Dzongkha
- ཉ nya
Examples of fish in a sentence
- Ichthyologists study the fish of the world.
- We have many fish in our aquarium.
- "What an excellent fish dolphin is to eat cooked," he said.1952 September 1, Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 80:
- Include low-mercury fish in your diet (such as salmon) and eat at least five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, broccoli, and cauliflower.2012 March, “Flexing your brain”, in Consumer Reports on Health, volume 24, number 3, page 9:
- Thou hast fished salmon a thousand times, and mightst have taken a lesson.1828, Sir Walter Scott, chapter V, in The Fair Maid of Perth, page 133:
Synonyms of fish
Forms of fish
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fish |
| plural | fishes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fishes |
| present participle | fishing |
| past participle | fished |
| past | fished |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Fishes |
Origin of fish
From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *piskós (“fish”). Cognates Cognate with Yola wish (“fish”), North Frisian fasch, fask, Fesk (“fish”), Saterland Frisian Fisk (“fish”), West Frisian fisk (“fish”), Cimbrian biss, visch, viss (“fish”), Dutch vis (“fish”), Dutch Low Saxon and Mòcheno visch (“fish”), German Fisch (“fish”), German Low German Fösch (“fish”), Luxembourgish Fësch (“fish”), Yiddish פֿיש (fish, “fish”), Danish, Elfdalian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fisk (“fish”), Faroese and Icelandic fiskur (“fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks, “fish”), Crimean Gothic fisct (“fish”). Compare Irish iasc (“fish”), Latin piscis (“fish”).
Deverbal from to fish (etymology 3).
From Old English fiscian, from Proto-West Germanic *fiskōn, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian fiskje (“to fish”), Dutch vissen (“to fish”), German fischen (“to fish”), Limburgish vésche, vèsse (“to fish”), Luxembourgish fëschen (“to fish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fiske (“to fish”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish fiska (“to fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌽 (fiskōn, “to fish”).
Words formed from fish
- alligatorfish
- all's fish that comes to the net
- all is fish that comes to the net
- amberfish
- anemonefish
- anemone fish
- angelfish
- anglerfish
- antifish
- archerfish
- assfish
- a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
- a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle
- baitfish
- balloonfish
- bandfish
- bannerfish
- barberfish
- barfish
- barrelfish
- batfish
- beakfish
- beardfish
- bellowfish
- bellowsfish
- beltfish
- big fish
- big fish eat little fish
- big fish in a little pond
- big fish in a small pond
- big-fish-little-pond effect
- bigger fish in the sea
- bigger fish to fry
- billfish
- blackfish
- blindfish
- blobfish
- blubber fish
- boarfish
- bonefish
- bottlefish
- boxfish
- broodfish
- bumperfish
- burfish
- burrfish
- butterfish
- butterflyfish
- button fish
- candlefish
- cardinalfish
- catfish
- cavefish
- clingfish
- clownfish
- coalfish
- cobblerfish
- cockfish
- cofferfish
- cold fish
Phrases with fish
- fish up
- go fish
- cur fish
- fish cop
- fish eye
- fish fry
- fish fur
- fish gig
- fish oil
- fish out
- fish owl
- fish pot
184 more phrasesFewer phrases
- fish tea
- hag fish
- ice fish
- odd fish
- pan fish
- sea fish
- tin fish
- wet fish
- basa fish
- beta fish
- blow fish
- bony fish
- date fish
- dead fish
- dull fish
- fish ball
- fish beam
- fish boil
- fish bowl
- fish cage
- fish cake
- fish camp
- fish coop
- fish cops
- fish crow
- fish dive
- fish down
- fish duck
- fish eyes
- fish farm
- fish feed
- fish food
- fish fork
- fish gigs
- fish glue
- fish hawk
- fish head
- Fish Hoek
- fish hook
- fish horn
- fish kill
- Fish Lake
- fish lice
- fish lips
- fish meal
- fish mint
- fish moon
- fish oils
- fish owls
- fish pass
- fish pole
- fish pond
- fish skin
- fish tail
- fish tale
- fish tank
- fish tape
- fish teas
- fish trap
- fish wrap
- food fish
- foul fish
- frog fish
- game fish
- haaf fish
- line fish
- lion fish
- mock fish
- neon fish
- reef fish
- rock fish
- rose fish
- surf fish
- tuna fish
- wolf fish
- angel fish
- chalk fish
- clown fish
- dingo fish
- fish balls
- fish beams
- fish boils
- fish bowls
- fish cages
- fish cakes
- fish camps
- fish coops
- Fish Creek
- fish crows
- fish dives
- fish eagle
- fish farms
- fish forks
- fish fries
- fish garth
- fish glues
- fish hawks
- fish heads
- fish hooks
- fish horns
- fish house
- fish kills
- fish knife
- fish louse
- fish mints
- fish moons
- fish paper
- fish paste
- Fish Point
- fish ponds
- fish pound
- fish sauce
- fish scale
- fish scrap
- fish skins
- fish slice
- fish steps
- fish stick
- fish stock
- fish storm
- fish story
- fish tails
- fish tales
- fish tanks
- fish tapes
- fish traps
- fish water
- fish wheel
- fish wraps
- frost fish
- jelly fish
- Jesus fish
- knife fish
- Korea Fish
- loose fish
- mango fish
- onion fish
- penis fish
- pilot fish
- pleco fish
- queer fish
- rifle fish
- rough fish
- royal fish
- sport fish
- squaw fish
- stone fish
- trash fish
- X-ray fish
- zebra fish
- angler fish
- coarse fish
- cotton fish
- Darwin fish
- discus fish
- dither fish
- ex-lax fish
- feeder fish
- finger fish
- fish corral
- fish doctor
- fish eagles
- fish farmer
- fish finger
- fish garths
- fish houses
- fish kettle
- fish knives
- fish ladder
- fish passes
- fish pastes
- fish pounds
- fish sauces
- fish scales
- fish scraps
- fish slices
- fish sticks
- fish stocks
- fish storms
- fish supper
- fish to fry
- fish trowel
- fish warden
- fish wheels
Words that rhyme with fish
Questions about fish
- What does fish mean?
- Fish means a typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod.
- What is fish in Hindi?
- Fish in Hindi is मछली (machlī), मत्स्य (matsya), माही (māhī). See Fish meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use fish in a sentence?
- Ichthyologists study the fish of the world.
- What part of speech is fish?
- Fish can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fish?
- Fish is pronounced /fɪʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fish?
- The plural of fish is fish.
Words near fish in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fish (page history and authors); Fish (page history and authors); FISH (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-fish.ogg, En-us-fish.ogg, En-au-fish.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.