catfish

Meanings

Noun

• Any fish of the order Siluriformes, mainly found in fresh water, lacking scales, and having barbels like whiskers around the mouth
• The meat of such a fish, popular in the Southern U.S. and Central Europe.
• Someone who creates a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people.
• Such a fake profile.

Verb

• To fish for catfish.
• To create and operate a fake online profile to deceive (someone).

Origin

• From cat + fish. Likely so named for its prominent barbels like a cat's whiskers.
• 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.