catfish

American  

[kat-fish] / ˈkætˌfɪʃ /

noun

• catfish,
  plural
• catfishes
  plural

1. any of the numerous fishes of the order or suborder Nematognathi (or Siluroidei), characterized by barbels around the mouth and the absence of scales.

2. a wolffish of the genus Anarhichas.

3. any of various other fishes having a fancied resemblance to a cat.

4. Slang. a person who assumes a false identity or personality on the internet, especially on social media websites, as to deceive, manipulate, or swindle.

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verb (used with or without object)

1. Slang. to deceive, swindle, etc., by assuming a false identity or personality online.

   He fell in love with her online before he realized he'd been catfished.

catfish British  

/ ˈkætˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any of numerous mainly freshwater teleost fishes having whisker-like barbels around the mouth, esp the silurids of Europe and Asia and the horned pouts of North America

2. another name for wolffish

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Usage

What does catfish mean? Aside from being a delicious kind of river fish, a catfish is a slang term for someone who seduces a person with a false identity online.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• catfish
  plural
• catfishes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of catfish

First recorded in 1605–15; cat + fish

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

catfish catfishes

The book also includes 30 “recipes from Old Philadelphia,” ranging from catfish and waffles to South Philly-style tomato pie, that demonstrate the breadth of Philadelphia’s multicultural, multiracial, ever-changing culinary landscape.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

These adaptable lizards live in cities across South and South East Asia and will take whatever food is available, such as catfish and koi.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Also known as grabblers or hand-fishermen, noodlers use their own bare limbs as bait to catch enormous flathead catfish lurking in Southern and Midwestern rivers, creeks, and lakes.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Even Wednesday, the Clippers sneerily referenced “podcast allegations” as if they came from a catfish in a swamp and not a show which had already won a Pulitzer for the work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The catfish fried in long pans with the potatoes and onions at the other end, popping in the grease.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Van Zeller creates her own fake persona for social media and then catfishes a catfisher.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Chuck invents a new social media account for her, through which he catfishes his lonely son, who immediately takes a liking to her.

From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2022

Today's lungfish and some catfishes can propel themselves along land for short periods with their fins.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 17, 2020

Instead, the show has emerged as pro-truth and genuineness as players who decide to be "100% authentic" are literally embraced more often than the catfishes are.

From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2020

Cosmos, 13-120, quotes a Virginia newspaper, that fishes said to have been catfishes, a foot long, some of them, had fallen, in 1853, at Norfolk, Virginia, with hail.

From The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort

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