squish
/skwɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To proceed or make one’s way (somewhere) with the sound of something being squeezed or crushed.
Informal
noun
The sound or action of something, especially something moist, being squeezed or crushed.
Countable; Informal
noun
An effect in internal combustion engines which creates sudden turbulence of the air–fuel mixture as the piston approaches top dead center.
Informal; Uncountable
noun
A continuum or progression between categories that are normally considered discrete.
Countable; Informal
Example Sentences
- "The sandwich tasted fine, even though it had got squished in his lunchbox."
- "It hadn't rained for a few days, and the water in the ditch had been stagnant long enough for insect larvae to hatch. One landed on her nose, and she squished it before flicking it away from her finger."
- "Rather than squishing everything into a tiny window, I have shown only part of my app."
- "If you see aphids on your broad beans, don’t panic. Don’t squish or spray immediately, but sit back and see what happens."
- "I kicked off my shoes and wiggled my toes on the soft moss. It felt amazing as it squished between my toes, cool and mushy."
- "His clothes were dripping wet and his shoes squished with every step."
Etymology
Apparently an alteration of squash, influenced by obsolete squiss (“to squeeze”). Cognate with Scots squische, squies (“to crush, squeeze”). Compare also French esquicher, from Old Occitan esquichar (“to squeeze, squish”). See also squeeze and squelch. The noun is derived from the verb. The linguistic noun sense 4 was coined in 1972 by the American poet and linguist John R. Ross (1938–2025): see the quotation. Noun sense 5 (“a non-romantic and generally non-sexual infatuation”) was formed by analogy with crush and possibly smash, both of which have senses as types of compression as well as types of attraction. It was possibly first attested in 1999 (see the quotation) and then later coined or recoined in 2007 by the user Raisin on the forums of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network as "a milder synonym for the word 'crush'". The term was also used with a similar meaning in a 1997 episode of the TV show Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, though the 2007 coining or recoining was apparently independent.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /skwɪʃ/
- British English: /skwɪʃ/