pufferfish
/ˈpʌfɚˌfɪʃ/noun
pufferfish is spelled P-U-F-F-E-R-F-I-S-H: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pufferfish means “Any species of fish of the family Tetraodontidae that have the ability to inflate themselves to a globe several times their normal size by swallowing…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pufferfish is pufferfishes.
How many letters and syllables are in pufferfish?
| Letters | 10: P-U-F-F-E-R-F-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 97,057th 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 pufferfish?
Pufferfish appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th 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 pufferfish?
- US /ˈpʌfɚˌfɪʃ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-pufferfish.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pufferfish
- pufferfishes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pufferfish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any species of fish of the family Tetraodontidae that have the ability to inflate themselves to a globe several times their normal size by swallowing water or air when threatened; puffer, blowfish, swellfish, balloonfish, globefish.
- 2
The meat of these fish, a delicacy popular in Japan served raw as sushi that may, if improperly prepared, contain deadly levels of neurotoxins; (Japanese) fugu.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pufferfish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a delicacy popular in Japan:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Kugelfisch |
| Portuguese | fugu |
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 pufferfish come from?
From puffer + fish.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).