squish

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squish

/skwɪʃ/ Australia, Canada, US
/skwəʃ/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɪʃ

Where it comes from

Apparently an alteration of squash, influenced by obsolete squiss (“to squeeze”). Cognate with Scots squische, squies (“to crush, squeeze”). Compare also French esquicher, from Old Occitan esquichar (“to squeeze, squish”). See also squeeze and squelch. The noun is derived from the verb.

The linguistic noun sense 4 was coined in 1972 by the American poet and linguist John R. Ross (1938–2025): see the quotation.

Noun sense 5 (“a non-romantic and generally non-sexual infatuation”) was formed by analogy with crush and possibly smash, both of which have senses as types of compression as well as types of attraction. It was possibly first attested in 1999 (see the quotation) and then later coined or recoined in 2007 by the user Raisin on the forums of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network as "a milder synonym for the word 'crush'". The term was also used with a similar meaning in a 1997 episode of the TV show Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, though the 2007 coining or recoining was apparently independent.

verb squishes · squishing · squished

ambitransitive, informal To squeeze, compress, or crush (especially something moist). The sandwich tasted fine, even though it had got squished in his lunchbox.
Similar: condense, squash, astringe, compact, telescope, compactify, densitize, pack, press, mash, scrunch, smush
informal, intransitive To be compressed or squeezed. I kicked off my shoes and wiggled my toes on the soft moss. It felt amazing as it squished between my toes, cool and mushy.
informal, intransitive To make the sound of something being squeezed or crushed. His clothes were dripping wet and his shoes squished with every step.
ambitransitive, informal To proceed or make one’s way (somewhere) with the sound of something being squeezed or crushed. LIKE A DUCK—Soaked to the point of not caring, this waterlogged pedestrian squishes his way across a downtown street.

noun squishes

countable, informal The sound or action of something, especially something moist, being squeezed or crushed. Alex reached the bottom and Grant heard a squish as she landed in the mud on the bottom of the river.
countable, derogatory, informal A political moderate; a moderate on a specific issue. The cadre of squishes in this party may disgree with me.
attributive, informal, often, uncountable An effect in internal combustion engines which creates sudden turbulence of the air–fuel mixture as the piston approaches top dead center. The movement of the jet in the type of cylinder used by Mr. [Harry] Ricardo was an interesting problem. The fuel was shot down quite close to the periphery of the cylindrical surface and yet managed to reach about 80 per cent of the air. He felt doubtful about the existence of a free vortex , and th
countable, informal A continuum or progression between categories that are normally considered discrete. To show that a squish exists, I will cite a number of grammatical processes which work most for verbs, less for adjectives, and least for nouns. That is, to pass from left to right along the squish of (1) is to move in the direction of syntactic inertness, and to move away from syntactic freedom and
countable, informal, slang A non-romantic and generally non-sexual infatuation with somebody one is not dating, or the object of that infatuation; a platonic crush. Heck, there is so _little_ love in this world, you really ought not to disparage it when you find it. So she's got a squish on you. I think it's %sweet%, personally.
UK, archaic, informal, slang, uncountable Marmalade. Where they are loaves and joints melt as snow in the sunshine; bowls of cream are of no more account than acorn-cups filled with dew; and the 'squish'—as they call the mother's home-made marmalade—has to be renewed daily; […]

Translations

Every language

verb to squeeze, compress, or crush

中文	擠壓 /挤压 jǐyā
Français	écraser, presser
Deutsch	quetschen, zermatschen, zerquetschen
Italiano	spiaccicare, spappolare
Русский	разда́вливать razdávlivatʹ, раздави́ть razdavítʹ, расплю́щивать raspljúščivatʹ, расплю́щить raspljúščitʹ
Tiếng Việt	bóp, ép, vắt

noun sound of something being squeezed or crushed

Italiano	scricchiolio, scrocchio
Русский	хлю́панье xljúpanʹje

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MLA

"squish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/squish. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

squish. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/squish

Chicago

"squish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/squish.

BibTeX

@misc{squish_2026,
  title = {squish},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/squish},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}