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fishy

/ˈfɪʃi/adjective, noun

fishy is spelled F-I-S-H-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, fishy means “Of, from, or similar to fish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fishy?

Letters5: F-I-S-H-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is fishy?

Fishy appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st 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).

How do you pronounce fishy?

  • US /ˈfɪʃi/

Fishy has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fishy.ogg, En-au-fishy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fishy

  • fishier comparative
  • fishiest superlative
  • fishie
  • fishies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fishy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of, from, or similar to fish.

    What is that fishy odor?

  2. 2

    Suspicious; inspiring doubt.

    I don't trust him; his claims seem fishy to me.

  3. 3

    Of a drag queen or a trans woman: appearing very feminine and resembling a cisgender woman.

noun

  1. 1

    Diminutive of fish. (a form of fish)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fishy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchde poisson, ichthyique (of, from, or similar to fish), suspect (suspicious; inspiring doubt), petit poisson (little fish)
Germanfischig, Fisch- (of, from, or similar to fish), anrüchig, verdächtig (suspicious; inspiring doubt), Fischlein, Fischchen (little fish)
Portuguesede peixe (of, from, or similar to fish), suspeito (suspicious; inspiring doubt), peixinho (little fish)
Spanishsospechoso (suspicious; inspiring doubt), pececito, pescadito (little fish)

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 fishy come from?

From Middle English fishi, fischey, equivalent to fish + -y.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after fishy