Ghoti
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
ghoti¹
- /fɪʃ/ Australia, Canada, US, India, UK, Scotland
- /fəʃ/ New Zealand
- /ˈɡəʊ̯.tiː/ UK
- /ˈɡoʊ̯.ti/ Canada, US
- /ˈɡəʉ̯.tiː/ Australia
- /ˈɡɐʉ̯.tiː/ New Zealand
- /ˈɡo.ti/ Scotland
- /ˈɡoː.ʈiː/ India
Sounds like fish, phish · Rhymes with -ɪʃ, -əʊtiː
Where it comes from
A jocular spelling of fish (/fɪʃ/) used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling:
* gh, /f/ as in rough, /ɹʌf/;
* o, /ɪ/ as in women, /ˈwɪm.ɪn/; and
* ti, /ʃ/ as in nation, /ˈneɪ̯.ʃən/.
Though frequently reported to be a coinage of George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), this term dates back to at least 1855.
Although the goal of the word is to highlight the irregularities of the English orthography, it deliberately exaggerates them, as ⟨gh⟩ is /f/ only word-finally and ⟨ti⟩ is /ʃ/ only before a vowel.
noun ghoti · ghoties · ghotis
- A constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish. Robinson suggested to me that William Ollier could have come up with ghoti in a parlor game of Ellis-inspired silly spellings.
ghoti²
noun ghotis
- Alternative letter-case form of Ghoti.Ghoti The bangals deride ghoti food as cloyingly sweet, bland without much oil and spices — ‘What do the ghotis know of good cooking anyway?’ On their part, the ghotis decry the bangal way of eating foul smelling shutki fish and drowning their food in too much oil and spices. ‘The bangals even put fish in
ghoti³
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Bengali ঘটি (ghoṭi).
noun ghotis
- A type of small Bengali waterpot used for washing. His metal vessels are—of brass, a kalsi, a garu, and two ghotis; of bell-metal, three thalis, three ghotis, and four batis.
Ghoti⁴
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Bengali ঘটি (ghoṭi).
noun Ghotis · ghoti
- A Bengali who originates from western Bengal. In fact there exists subtle animosity between the Bangals and the Ghotis (East Bengal immigrants are called Bangals, and the residing Bengali Hindus are called Ghotis). The cause is economic; […]
