Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fishwife

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.39 in modern English

Syllables: fish-wife
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A woman who sells or works with fish; a female fishmonger.

Archaic

noun

A vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice.

Derogatory

noun

A person, especially a woman, with poor personal hygiene.

Derogatory

noun

The wife of a homosexual man.

Slang

Example Sentences

"[S]he was angry with herself; and, for that, sang the more loudly the most wicked and risqué of her slang songs, that gave the morals of a Messalina in the language of a fish-wife, and yet had an inalienable, mischievous, contagious, dauntless French grace in it withal."

Etymology

From Middle English fysshewyfe; equivalent to fish + wife (“(obsolete) woman”) (see also midwife).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: fysshewyfe

Usage

Inflected Forms

fishwives (plural)

Derived Forms

fishwifely

Frequently Paired Words

fishman

Synonyms

fishmongeress fishwoman piscatrix shrew

Questions

What does fishwife mean?: A woman who sells or works with fish; a female fishmonger.
Where does fishwife come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce fishwife

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fishwife”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “fishwife” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.