Meanings
- uncountablecomputingThe malicious act of keeping a false website or sending a false e-mail with the intent of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in order to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.
Holonym: social engineering
1 more example
A growing number of U.S. cities are alerting residents to a widespread phishing scam involving fraudulent text messages about unpaid parking violations.
2025 March 11, Sunny Yadav, “US Cities Warn of Surge in Unpaid Parking Phishing Text Scams”, in eSecurity Planet
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of phish
Origin
Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans uitvissing
- uitvissingmalicious act
Arabic اَلِاحْتِيَالُ الْإِلِكْتُرُونِيُّ, اَلتَّصَيُّدُ
- اَلِاحْتِيَالُ الْإِلِكْتُرُونِيُّ (al-iḥtiyālu l-ʔilikturūniyyu)malicious act
- اَلتَّصَيُّدُ (at-taṣayyudu)malicious act
- اَلْفِيشِينْغ (al-fīšīnḡ)malicious act
Catalan pesca, pesca per correu electrònic
- pescamalicious act
- pesca per correu electrònicmalicious act
Chinese Cantonese 釣魚法 /钓鱼法, 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈
- 釣魚法 /钓鱼法 (diu³ jyu⁴ faat³)malicious act
- 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈 (diu³ jyu⁴ hei¹ zaa³)malicious act
- 網釣法 /网钓法 (mong⁵ diu³ faat³)malicious act
- 釣魚式攻擊 /钓鱼式攻击 (diu³ jyu⁴ sik¹ gung¹ gik¹)malicious act
- 網絡網釣 /网络网钓 (mong⁵ lok⁶ mong⁵ diu³)malicious act
Chinese Mandarin 釣魚法 /钓鱼法, 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈
- 釣魚法 /钓鱼法 (diàoyúfǎ)malicious act
- 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈 (diàoyúqīzhà)malicious act
- 網釣法 /网钓法 (wǎngdiàofǎ)malicious act
- 釣魚式攻擊 /钓鱼式攻击 (diàoyúshì gōngjī, diàoyúshì gōngjí)malicious act
- 網絡網釣 /网络网钓 (wǎngluò wǎngdiào)malicious act
- 網路網釣 /网路网钓 (wǎnglù wǎngdiào)malicious act
Czech phishing, rhybaření
- phishingmalicious act
- rhybařenímalicious act
Dutch phishing
- phishingmalicious act
Esperanto rettrompado
- rettrompadomalicious act
Finnish verkkourkinta, tietojen kalastelu
- verkkourkintamalicious act
- tietojen kalastelumalicious act
- khalastelumalicious act
- phishingmalicious act
French hameçonnage
- hameçonnagemalicious act
German Phishing
- Phishingmalicious act
Hebrew דִּיּוּג, פישינג
- דִּיּוּג (diyúg)malicious act
- פישינג (físhing)malicious act
Hindi फ़िशिंग, फिशिंग
- फ़िशिंग (fiśiṅg)malicious act
- फिशिंग (phiśiṅg)malicious act
- अंकीय धोखाधड़ी (aṅkīya dhokhādhṛī)malicious act
Hungarian adathalászat
- adathalászatmalicious act
Indonesian pengelabuan
- pengelabuanmalicious act
Irish fioscaireacht
- fioscaireachtmalicious act
Japanese フィッシング, フィッシング詐欺
- フィッシング (fisshingu)malicious act
- フィッシング詐欺 (fisshingu sagi)malicious act
Korean 피싱
- 피싱 (pising)malicious act
Māori hītinihanga
- hītinihangamalicious act
Persian فیشینگ
- فیشینگ (fišing)malicious act
Polish wyłudzanie danych
- wyłudzanie danychmalicious act
Portuguese phishing
- phishingmalicious act
Romanian înșelăciune electronică
- înșelăciune electronicămalicious act
Russian фи́шинг
- фи́шинг (fíšing)malicious act
Spanish phishing, fishin
- phishingmalicious act
- fishinmalicious act
Swedish nätfiske
- nätfiskemalicious act
Welsh gwe-rwydo
- gwe-rwydomalicious act
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with phishing
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
phishing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phishing
“phishing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phishing. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phishing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phishing.
Source: phishing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.