Etymology

fish

F4I1S1H4

Today it means: A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod. Full definition →

Middle English fisch ← Old English fisċ ← Proto-West Germanic *fisk
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fish · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*piskós“fish”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*fiskaz“fish”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fisk
  4. Old English · inherited fromfisċ“fish”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromfisch
  6. English todayfish

From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *piskós (“fish”). Cognates Cognate with Yola wish (“fish”), North Frisian fasch, fask, Fesk (“fish”), Saterland Frisian Fisk (“fish”), West Frisian fisk (“fish”), Cimbrian biss, visch, viss (“fish”), Dutch vis (“fish”), Dutch Low Saxon and Mòcheno visch (“fish”), German Fisch (“fish”), German Low German Fösch (“fish”), Luxembourgish Fësch (“fish”), Yiddish פֿיש (fish, “fish”), Danish, Elfdalian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fisk (“fish”), Faroese and Icelandic fiskur (“fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks, “fish”), Crimean Gothic fisct (“fish”). Compare Irish iasc (“fish”), Latin piscis (“fish”).

fish · noun2

Deverbal from to fish (etymology 3).

fish · verb3

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*fiskōną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fiskōn
  3. Old English · inherited fromfiscian
  4. English todayfish

From Old English fiscian, from Proto-West Germanic *fiskōn, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian fiskje (“to fish”), Dutch vissen (“to fish”), German fischen (“to fish”), Limburgish vésche, vèsse (“to fish”), Luxembourgish fëschen (“to fish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fiske (“to fish”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish fiska (“to fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌽 (fiskōn, “to fish”).

fish · noun4

  1. French · borrowed fromfiche“peg, mark”
  2. English todayfish

Borrowed from French fiche (“peg, mark”).

Fish · proper noun5

  1. German · derived fromFisch
  2. English todayFish

From fish, a metonymic occupational surname for a fish seller or a nickname for someone who resembled a fish. It could also be an Americanized spelling of German Fisch.

Fish · proper noun6

  1. Latin · semantic loan fromPisces
  2. English todayFish

Semantic loan from Latin Pisces.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishfisċ all →

FishburnFishlock

Proto-Germanic*fiskaz all →

fisk

Frenchfiche all →

fichefisher catfitchy

LatinPisces all →

Pisces

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.