pish

/pɪʃ/

//pɪʃ// intj

"pish" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pish” is uncommon English (frequency #63,143 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,143
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Expressing disdain.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pish · pish · English

pish · rank #63,143 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,143
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Piggott

Nearest frequency peer: Piggott (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “pish”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “pish” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pish
PropertyValue
Headwordpish
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA/pɪʃ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#63,143
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pish” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).pishfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Piggott” (#63,142), “Pitcairn” (#63,144), “playpen” (#63,145). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pish” is #63,143. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pish is uncommon English at frequency #63,143 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /pɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Expressing disdain.".

pish has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Expressive; perhaps partly from Scots pish (“piss”). The correct English form is pish, spelled P-I-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Expressing disdain.

Etymology

Expressive; perhaps partly from Scots pish (“piss”).

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pish"?
"pish" is spelled P-I-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /pɪʃ/.
What does "pish" mean?
As an interjection, "pish" means: Expressing disdain.
How do you pronounce "pish"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pish" is /pɪʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "pish"?
Expressive; perhaps partly from Scots pish (“piss”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pish", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list