Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

big fish eat little fish

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.44 in modern English

Syllables
big -fish eat lit-tle -fish
IPA
35
Scrabble Score
20
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

proverb

Bigger animals, people, and companies tend to eliminate, or at least dominate, those that are smaller.

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 大魚吃小魚 /大鱼吃小鱼 (dà yú chī xiǎo yú)

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Questions

What does big fish eat little fish mean?
Bigger animals, people, and companies tend to eliminate, or at least dominate, those that are smaller.
Where does big fish eat little fish come from?
Calque of Chinese 大魚吃小魚 /大鱼吃小鱼 (dà yú chī xiǎo yú)

How to pronounce big fish eat little fish

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “big fish eat little fish”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “big fish eat little fish”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “big fish eat little fish” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.