# fish

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɪʃ/ · frequency rank #1,339

## Definitions
1. A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.
2. A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:
3. A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:
4. A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:
5. A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:
6. A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:
7. Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.
8. Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.
9. Cod; codfish.
10. The flesh of the fish used as food.
11. An aquatic or semiaquatic animal suitable for consumption during fasting on Fridays during Lent.
12. 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.
13. An easy victim for swindling.
14. A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).
15. A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
16. A purchase used to fish the anchor.
17. A torpedo (self-propelled explosive device).
18. The thirty-fourth Lenormand card.
19. A (feminine) woman. (See also fishy.)
20. A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.
21. A male homosexual; a gay man.
22. A drag queen or transgender woman who looks like a cisgender woman.
23. A spaceship.

## Etymology
From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“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, visch (“fish”), Dutch Low Saxon, 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, Icelandic fiskur (“fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks, “fish”), Crimean Gothic fisct (“fish”). Compare Irish iasc (“fish”), Latin piscis (“fish”).

## Easily confused with
- **FS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fs)
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fit)
- **fix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fix)
- **FSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fsa)
- **FSB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fsb)
- **foh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-foh)
- **five** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-five)
- **fits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fits)
- **fist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fist)
- **fuse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fuse)
- **fuss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fuss)
- **fisk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fisk)
- **fizz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fizz)
- **FOSS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-foss)
- **FTSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-ftse)
- **fresh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fresh)
- **flash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-flash)
- **flesh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-flesh)
- **flush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-flush)
- **fists** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fish-vs-fists)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ffish`, `fihs`, `fishh`, `fissh`, `fsih`, `ifsh`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fish