goldfish

[ gohld-fish ]

noun

, plural (especially collectively) gold·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) gold·fish·es.

1. a small, usually yellow or orange fish, Carassius auratus, of the carp family, native to China, bred in many varieties and often kept in fishbowls and pools.
2. garibaldi ( def 2 ).

goldfish

/ ˈɡəʊldˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. a freshwater cyprinid fish, Carassius auratus, of E Europe and Asia, esp China, widely introduced as a pond or aquarium fish. It resembles the carp and has a typically golden or orange-red coloration
2. See orfe
   any of certain similar ornamental fishes, esp the golden orfe See orfe

Word History and Origins

Origin of goldfish¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; gold + fish

Example Sentences

“Please don’t release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes!”

From Washington Post

When you pull a goldfish about the size of a football out of the lake, it makes you wonder how this can even be the same type of animal.

From Washington Post

“A few goldfish might seem to some like a harmless addition to the local water body — but they’re not,” the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advised this year.

From Washington Post

Groups of these large goldfish were recently found in Keller Lake.

From Washington Post

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we were about to go through this process all over again, with the EU acting as if it had the memory span of a giant goldfish.

From TechCrunch

They include “The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell” painted in 1932 and “The Harbour, Cannes,” painted circa 1933.

From The Daily Beast

And in item 6c I get to list my dependents—three children, four dogs, six laying hens, two goldfish, and a hamster.

From The Daily Beast

She told Harry that she did not want to live in the goldfish bowl of Royal family life.

From The Daily Beast

He found a manager who was buying a package of Goldfish crackers and pulled the pellet gun on him.

From The Daily Beast

The Jets step up to help Elmo train and Elmo helps them score a win, or at least his pet goldfish Dorothy does.

From The Daily Beast

There are clumps of ornamental wood, flower-beds, and artificial ponds with goldfish swimming in them.

From Project Gutenberg

My waif was curled up in my kimono, feeding my fan-tailed goldfish.

From Project Gutenberg

Already the boy could take a pair of rabbits out of a high hat, or change a bunch of carrots into a bowl of goldfish.

From Project Gutenberg

A good name, he seems to believe, is something which a woman carries tightly clasped in both arms like a bowl of goldfish.

From Project Gutenberg

He said that when he grew up he was going to be a merchant, and he had already begun to carry on a trade in canaries and goldfish.

From Project Gutenberg