Word.ws English Dictionary

ichthys

/ˈɪkθəs/

ichthys noun: a stylized representation of a fish, used as a Christian symbol.

ichthys: a stylized representation of a fish, used as a Christian symbol
Image: Fibonacci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

ichthys (plural ichthyses)

  1. A stylized representation of a fish, used as a Christian symbol.
    • So how could this congregation of crusty kids feel justified in having ichthys tattoos? What would John Lydon think?2013 March 26, Carly Lewis, “In Brooklyn, a Punk Church Tries to Redefine Religious Faith”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2013
    Synonyms:
    Jesus fish

Synonyms of ichthys

Forms of ichthys

pluralichthyses
alternative formichthus

Origin of ichthys

From Ancient Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ (IKHTHUS, “fish”), which also served (repurposed) as an acronym (ΙΧΘΥΣ (IKHTHUS)) for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Iēsoûs Khristós, Theoû Huiós, Sōtḗr, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”).

Questions about ichthys

What does ichthys mean?
Ichthys means a stylized representation of a fish, used as a Christian symbol.
What part of speech is ichthys?
Ichthys is a noun.
How do you pronounce ichthys?
Ichthys is pronounced /ˈɪkθəs/.
What is the plural of ichthys?
The plural of ichthys is ichthyses.

Words near ichthys in the dictionary

  1. ichthyotoxin
  2. ichthyotoxins
  3. ichthyotoxism
  4. ichthyovorous
  5. ichthyphagous
  6. ichthys
  7. ichthysarcotoxism
  8. ichthyses
  9. ichthytaxidermy
  10. ichu
  11. ICI

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ichthys (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-ichthys.wav.

Cite this entry: “ichthys.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ichthys. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.