catfishing
noun, verb
catfishing is spelled C-A-T-F-I-S-H-I-N-G: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, catfishing means “The practice of creating a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of catfishing is catfishings.
How many letters and syllables are in catfishing?
| Letters | 10: C-A-T-F-I-S-H-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 83,271st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is catfishing?
Catfishing appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of catfishing
- catfishings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does catfishing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The practice of creating a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of catfish (“to fish for catfish”)
- 2
present participle and gerund of catfish (“to create and operate a fake online profile”)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Catfishing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | engañifla de perfil falso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does catfishing come from?
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).