ghoti
/fɪʃ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/fəʃ/
ghoti noun: a constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish. Also the alternative letter-case form of Ghoti.
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Noun (1)
ghoti (plural ghoti or ghoties or ghotis)
- A constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish.
- Robinson suggested to me that William Ollier could have come up with ghoti in a parlor game of Ellis-inspired silly spellings.2010 June 25, Ben Zimmer, “2010-06-25”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2018
Noun (2)
ghoti (plural ghotis)
- A type of small Bengali waterpot used for washing.
- His metal vessels are—of brass, a kalsi, a garu, and two ghotis; of bell-metal, three thalis, three ghotis, and four batis.1888, Report on the Condition of the Lower Classes of Population in Bengal, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, page 21
- After this, two women bathe her by pouring seven ghotis or lotas of water over her, and they also rub her with turmeric, methi, and scented oil.1895, D.H.E. Sunder, “The Dobasiyas”, in Survey and Settlement of the Western Duars in the District of Jalpaiguri, 1889 - 1895, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, part I (The Tract under...
Noun (3) capitalized: Ghoti
Ghoti (plural Ghotis)
- A Bengali who originates from western Bengal.
- In fact there exists subtle animosity between the Bangals and the Ghotis (East Bengal immigrants are called Bangals, and the residing Bengali Hindus are called Ghotis). The cause is economic; […]2009, Sabya Sachi, “Of Fish and Beef, the New Recipe of the Muslim Identity: A Journey through the Cultural Prism of West Bengal”, in Ather Farouqui, editor, Muslims and Media Images: News versus...
- The Ghotis are natives of what was West Bengal or the Indian side of Bengal. […] At the risk of making a broad generaliation, you can say that the general rule of thumb is that Ghoti dishes are a bit sweet, while Bangal dishes are spicy, have a strong chilli element and are savoury.2016, Kalyan Karmakar, “Sweet Home Kolkata”, in The Travelling Belly: Eating Through India’s By-Lanes, Gurgaon, Haryana: Hachette India, →ISBN, page 29
- Synonyms:
- West Bengali
Also used as
ghoti is also the alternative letter-case form of Ghoti.
Synonyms of ghoti
- West Bengali
Forms of ghoti
| plural | ghoti |
|---|---|
| plural | ghoties |
| plural | ghotis |
| plural | Ghotis |
| alternative form | ghoti |
Origin of ghoti
A jocular spelling of fish (/fɪʃ/) used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling: * gh, /f/ as in rough, /ɹʌf/; * o, /ɪ/ as in women, /ˈwɪm.ɪn/; and * ti, /ʃ/ as in nation, /ˈneɪ̯.ʃən/. Though frequently reported to be a coinage of George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), this term dates back to at least 1855. Although the goal of the word is to highlight the irregularities of the English orthography, it deliberately exaggerates them, as ⟨gh⟩ is /f/ only word-finally and ⟨ti⟩ is /ʃ/ only before a vowel.
Borrowed from Bengali ঘটি (ghoṭi).
Words that rhyme with ghoti
Questions about ghoti
- What does ghoti mean?
- Ghoti means a constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish.
- What part of speech is ghoti?
- Ghoti is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ghoti?
- Ghoti is pronounced /fɪʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ghoti?
- The plural of ghoti is ghoti.
Words near ghoti in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ghoti (page history and authors); Ghoti (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: “ghoti.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ghoti. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.