fishscale

F4I1S1H4S1C3A1L1E1

noun

The scale of a fish.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

nounfishscale (countable and uncountable, plural fishscales)

plural fishscales · alternative fish-scale

  1. countableliteralThe scale of a fish.
  2. slanguncountableCocaine, usually of high quality, taken directly off the brick and uncut.

    The kids out here don't know a flake from a fish—if you asked them what fishscale is, they wouldn't know. [Fishscale is high-grade cocaine powder with few rock-like chunks.]

    1989, Terry Williams, chapter 2, in The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring, page 41
    2 more examples

    Oh shit, it was Fishscale! It was love at first sight. He nearly fell back in his chair. "No mothafuckin' way!" he yelled. He jumped up and danced a little two-step jig and thanked his lucky stars for the come-up. Fishscale cocaine! It was fucking Fishscale!

    2011, Boston George, Caroline McGill, Soft: Cocaine Love Stories, unnumbered page

    "You can get anything on here—isn't it incredible?" Slick Guy continues. "I couldn't believe it, either. I mean anything. MDMA from Holland, high-end weed, fish-scale coke, whatever.

    2015, Duane Swierczynski, Canary, unnumbered page

Origin

From fish + scale. The use for sense 2 is from its appearance as shiny yellowish flakes resembling the scales of a fish, as opposed to dull white powder.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

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Cite this entry
APA

fishscale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fishscale

MLA

“fishscale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fishscale. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fishscale,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fishscale.

Source: fishscale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.