fisherman

Etymology

It is formed from English fisher + man.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} fisher, a fisherman, is from Old English fiscere, an agent noun from fish,^[3] and Etymonline suggests that fisherman arose because fisher had begun to be used of certain animals.^[3] The OED notes that the surnames “Fisserman” (1203) and “Fissherman” (1335) may point to earlier use, though they may also have named the servant of a fisher.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who catches fish for a living or for pleasure: 1441, in a case in the court of Chancery.^[2] Dictionary.com dates the late Middle English fissherman to 1400–50, and Etymonline gives the 1520s.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1589 to the 20th century the word also meant a fishing boat;^[2][4] from 1634 it was also used of an animal that catches fish.^[2] Shakespeare's King Lear has the fishermen on the beach that look like mice, quoted by Johnson (1755).^[6] In the oil industry, from 1879, a fisherman was a worker skilled in recovering objects dropped into a borehole.^[2] In Cumberland the fisherman's nightingale was the sedge warbler.^[8]

Timeline

• 1203 – the surname “Fisserman”.^[2]
• 1441 – a person who catches fish.^[2]
• 1589 – a fishing boat.^[2]
• 1634 – an animal that catches fish.^[2]
• 1879 – a worker who recovers objects from a borehole.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who catches fish for a living or for sport; an angler: The fishermen were mending their nets on the quay.^[4][9][2]
2. A boat used for fishing, especially commercially.^[4][9][2]
3. An animal that catches fish for food.^[2]

Word family

• nonfisherman
• spearfisherman
• sportfisherman

Related words

• fisherwoman
• fisher
• fishery

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins