tilapia

T1I1L1A1P3I1A1
US/təˈlɑːpiə/UK/tɪˈlɑːpiə/UK/tɪˈlæpiə/

noun

Any of various edible fish, formerly species of the genus Tilapia, but now placed in other cichlid genera (such as Oreochromis), native to Africa and the Middle East but cultivated worldwide.

Less commonScrabble 9

Meanings

nountilapia (plural tilapias or tilapia)

plural tilapias

  1. Any of various edible fish, formerly species of the genus Tilapia, but now placed in other cichlid genera (such as Oreochromis), native to Africa and the Middle East but cultivated worldwide.

    Well I dined last night with Scarface Ron On tilapia fishcakes and fried black swan.

    2006, Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan, Bottom of the World

    Synonyms: St. Peter's fish

  2. drag slangA fishy (resembling a cisgender woman) drag queen; a drag queen who could pass for a woman, as opposed to one who is exaggeratedly feminine.
    1 more example

    Vietnamese tilapia Plastique Tiara was at the forefront of one of Drag Race's most controversial eliminations earlier this year. Although the Texan performer and biological woman was leaving us gooped week-after-week with her runways, she was – spoiler alert! – eliminated in eighth place after lip-syncing against Miss Vanjie, despite having a better track record.

    2019 June 13, Sam Damshenas, “Drag Race star Plastique Tiara wants to be a "pioneer" for the queer Asian community”, in Gay Times, London: Gay Times Ltd, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2021

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny of various edible fish, formerly species of the genus Tilapia, but now placed in other cichlid genera (such as Oreochromis), native to Africa and the Middle East but cultivated worldwide.

Origin

  1. Tswanatlhapi
  2. taxonomic nameTilapia
  3. Englishtilapia

Learned borrowing from taxonomic name Tilapia, from Tswana tlhapi (“fish”). The drag race slang usage is a reference to the comment by Gia Gunn on entering Ru Paul's Drag Race (season 6) "Just landed like fresh tilapia".

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بُلْطِيّ
  • بُلْطِيّ (bulṭiyy)any fish of the genus Tilapia
Chinese Cantonese 羅非魚 /罗非鱼, 非洲鯽 /非洲鲫
  • 羅非魚 /罗非鱼any fish of the genus Tilapia
  • 非洲鯽 /非洲鲫 (fei¹ zau¹ zak¹)any fish of the genus Tilapia
Chinese Mandarin 羅非魚 /罗非鱼
  • 羅非魚 /罗非鱼 (luófēiyú)any fish of the genus Tilapia
Czech tlamoun
  • tlamounany fish of the genus Tilapia
Finnish tilapia
  • tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
French tilapia
  • tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
German Tilapia, Tilapie
  • Tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
  • Tilapieany fish of the genus Tilapia
Hebrew אַמְנוּן, מוּשְׁט
  • אַמְנוּן (amnún)any fish of the genus Tilapia
  • מוּשְׁט (musht)any fish of the genus Tilapia
Hungarian tilápia
  • tilápiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Italian tilapia
  • tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Japanese ティラピア
  • ティラピア (tirapia)any fish of the genus Tilapia
Polish tilapia
  • tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Portuguese tilápia
  • tilápiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Spanish tilapia
  • tilapiaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Tagalog tilapya
  • tilapyaany fish of the genus Tilapia
Vietnamese cá rô phi
  • cá rô phiany fish of the genus Tilapia
Zulu intilaphi
  • intilaphiany fish of the genus Tilapia
Cite this entry
APA

tilapia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tilapia

MLA

“tilapia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tilapia. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tilapia,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tilapia.

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