# phishing

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɪʃɪŋ/ · frequency rank #30,917

## Definitions
1. The malicious act of keeping a false website or sending a false e-mail with the intent of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in order to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.
2. The act of circumventing security with an alias.

## Etymology
Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.

## Easily confused with
- **pushing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phishing-vs-pushing)
- **pissing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phishing-vs-pissing)
- **punishing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phishing-vs-punishing)
- **phasing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phasing-vs-phishing)
- **Pershing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pershing-vs-phishing)
- **fishing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fishing-vs-phishing)

## Common misspellings (13)
`hpishing`, `phhishing`, `phihsing`, `phishhing`, `phishign`, `phishingg`, `phishinng`, `phishnig`, `phisihng`, `phisshing`, `phsihing`, `pihshing`, `pphishing`

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