Etymologically
Log in

goldfish

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word goldfish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1598 Florio, A Worlde of Wordes
Ultimate origin
Old English gold,fisc
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English gold
English goldfish
From the same root
English golden ← gold

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡoʊldfɪʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English gold + fish, from the golden markings or colour of the fishes it named.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares German Goldfisch, used from the 15th century for various gold-coloured fishes, such as the allis shad and the ruffe.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of various yellowish fishes: 1598, in Florio's Italian–English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1690s,[3] Dictionary.com to 1690–1700,[5] and Merriam-Webster's first date for the Chinese fish is 1791.[4]

Semantic evolution

In 1670 the name was given to the dolphinfish or dorado, which has a golden lustre, and since 1750 it has also named the southern constellation Dorado.[2] The fish now called goldfish, a small carp native to China, is recorded under the name from 1752, in a letter of Walpole.[2] Etymonline notes that it was brought to England from China, and that the wild fish is a dull olive colour, its red, gold, black and silver forms being the result of breeding.[3] In the United States the name was also given from 1882 to the bright orange garibaldi of the Pacific coast.[2][4] Soldiers' slang used goldfish for tinned salmon or other tinned fish from 1900;[2][6] in Australian slang of 1901 it was a man worth marrying,[6] and in American police slang from 1929 a rubber hose used to beat a prisoner, after the prisoner isolated like a fish in a bowl.[6] From 1920 the goldfish was used as an image of a person of little intelligence or attention.[2] Goldfish bowl in the figurative sense of a place without privacy is recorded from 1931.[3]

Timeline

  • 1598 – any of various yellowish fishes (now obsolete).[2]
  • 1670 – the dolphinfish or dorado (obsolete by 1771).[2]
  • 1750 – the constellation Dorado.[2]
  • 1752 – the small Chinese carp kept in ponds and bowls.[2]
  • 1882 – United States, the garibaldi.[2]
  • 1900 – soldiers' slang, tinned salmon.[2][6]
  • 1920 – figurative, a person seen as dim or inattentive.[2]
  • 1931 – goldfish bowl, a place with no privacy.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small freshwater fish of the carp family, native to China, usually golden or orange-red, kept in ponds and aquariums.[7][4][2]
  2. Any of several similar ornamental fishes, such as the golden orfe.[7]
  3. (United States) The garibaldi, a bright orange Pacific fish.[4][2]
  4. (slang, archaic) Tinned salmon.[4][2][6]

Word family

  • fantail goldfish
  • goldfish bowl

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Goldfish.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/goldfish. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·