catfish
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.
catfish¹
- /ˈkætfɪʃ/
- [ˈkʰæt̚fɪʃ]
Where it comes from
From cat + fish. Likely so named for its prominent barbels like a cat's whiskers. Compare West Frisian katfisk (“catfish”), Dutch katvis (“catfish”). Compare also German Seekatze (“catfish”, literally “sea-cat”).
noun catfish · catfishes
- Any fish of the order Siluriformes, mainly found in fresh water, lacking scales, and having barbels like whiskers around the mouth. “You don’t see catfish that big anymore, except in Chernobyl […] Nobody fishes there anymore, so the catfish thrive. They’ve gotten really enormous, some even twelve or thirteen feet long. They’re bottom-feeders, and apparently the mud still contains a lot of radioactive particles, but the catfish d
- The meat of such a fish, popular in the Southern U.S. and Central Europe.
verb catfishes · catfishing · catfished
- To fish for catfish. I only use this rod for catfishing.
catfish²
- /ˈkætfɪʃ/
- [ˈkʰæt̚fɪʃ]
Where it comes from
From the 2010 documentary Catfish, supposedly inspired by the practice of fishermen keeping cod active by storing them with catfish (see sense 1) which nip at their tails.
noun catfish · catfishes
- Someone who creates a false profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people. Real people in a picture that was used by a catfish to create a fake identity could have a claim because their likeness was used without permission, Shear said.
- Such a false profile.
verb catfishes · catfishing · catfished
- To create and operate a fake online profile to deceive (someone). Getting catfished is when someone falls for a person online who is not necessarily real. It can involve pictures, phone calls, social media profiles, text messages, e-mails and even phony friends or family members.
