# shark

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃɑːk/ · frequency rank #6,098

## Definitions
1. Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.
2. Flesh of this animal, consumed as food.
3. Any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, especially an extinct shark-like holocephalian.
4. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
5. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
6. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
7. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
8. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
9. A noctuid moth of species Cucullia umbratica.
10. A university student who is not a fresher that has engaged in sexual activity with a fresher; usually habitually and with multiple people.

## Etymology
From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English. Its name in Old English is unknown, although some uses of the word hranfisċ that do not appear to carry the sense of "whale" may have been referencing it.
alternative theories
Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)acharus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name [shark] was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man".
Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xok (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, the 1442 use rules out a New World origin for the word.

## Easily confused with
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-star)
- **shaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shaw)
- **soak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-soak)
- **Shri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shri)
- **soar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-soar)
- **shay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shay)
- **spar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-spar)
- **shat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shat)
- **Shek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shek)
- **start** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-start)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-short)
- **stars** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-stars)
- **smart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-smart)
- **shirt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shirt)
- **sharp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-sharp)
- **shock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shock)
- **shore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shore)
- **spare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-spare)
- **shook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-shook)
- **stack** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shark-vs-stack)

## Common misspellings (8)
`hsark`, `sahrk`, `shakr`, `sharkk`, `sharrk`, `shhark`, `shrak`, `sshark`

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