goldfish

English

Some goldfish

A 19th-century watercolour of goldfish

Etymology

From gold +‎ fish.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gōld'fĭsh, IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊldfɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gold‧fish
• Rhymes: -oʊldfɪʃ

Noun

goldfish (plural goldfish or goldfishes)

1. A type of small fish, Carassius auratus, typically orange-colored.

   For the children's fair we'll have a few games they can play, so that each child "wins" a goldfish as a prize.

   • 2017, Howard Bennett, The Fantastic Body: What Makes You Tick & How You Get Sick:

     However, unless you have a nonshedding, nonlicking breed, there's no such thing as a truly hypoallergenic dog. How about a nice goldfish instead?

2. (figuratively, informal) A person with an unreliable memory.

Derived terms

• fantail goldfish
• goldfish bowl
• Goldfish Club
• goldfish plant
• memory of a goldfish

Translations

fish

• Afrikaans: goudvis (af)
• Albanian: peshk i kuq
• Arabic: سَمَكَة زِينة f (samaka(t) zīna)
• Azerbaijani: şələquyruq qızıl balığı, Yapon balığı
• Basque: urre-arrain
• Belarusian: залата́я ры́бка f (zalatája rýbka)
• Bulgarian: зла́тна ри́бка f (zlátna ríbka)
• Catalan: carpí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 金魚 / 金鱼 (zh) (jīnyú)

• Cornish: owrbysk m, (Revived Late Cornish) owrbesk m
• Czech: zlatá rybka f
• Danish: guldfisk c
• Dutch: goudvis (nl) m
• Esperanto: orfiŝo
• Estonian: kuldkala
• Finnish: kultakala (fi)
• French: poisson rouge (fr) m, carassin doré (fr) m
• German: Goldfisch (de) m
• Greek: χρυσόψαρο (el) n (chrysópsaro)
• Hawaiian: iʻa ʻulaʻula
• Hebrew: דַּג זָהָב m (dag zaháv)
• Hindi: सुनहरी मछली f (sunahrī machlī)
• Hungarian: aranyhal (hu)
• Icelandic: gullfiskur (is) m
• Indonesian: ikan mas
• Italian: pesce rosso m
• Japanese: 金魚 (ja) (きんぎょ, kingyo)
• Kapampangan: talang-talang
• Korean: 금붕어 (ko) (geumbung'eo)
• Latvian: Zelta zivtiņa
• Macedonian: златна рипка f (zlatna ripka)
• Malay: ikan emas (ms), ikan mas
• Malayalam: സ്വർണ്ണമത്സം (svaṟṇṇamatsaṁ)
• Manx: eeast airhey m
• Maori: morihana
• Mongolian: алтан загас (altan zagas)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gullfisk m

  Nynorsk: gullfisk m

• Persian: ماهی قرمز (mâhi-ye qermez)
• Polish: złota rybka (pl) f
• Portuguese: doirada f, peixinho dourado m
• Romanian: peștișor auriu, caras-auriu m
• Russian: золота́я ры́бка f (zolotája rýbka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: златна рибица f

  Roman: zlatna ribica f

• Skolt Sami: kåʹllkueʹll
• Slovak: zlatá rybka f, karas striebristý m, karas zlatý (sk) m
• Slovene: zlata ribica f
• Spanish: pez rojo m, pez dorado (es) m, pez de oro m, pez de colores m, carpa dorada f (Mexico)
• Swedish: guldfisk (sv) c
• Tagalog: lali
• Thai: ปลาทอง (bplaa tong)
• Tibetan: གསེར་ཉ (gser nya)
• Turkish: Japon balığı
• Ukrainian: золота́ ри́бка f (zolotá rýbka)
• Urdu: سنہری مچھلی f (sunharī machlī)
• Uzbek: oltin baliq
• Vietnamese: cá vàng (vi), cá ba đuôi
• Volapük: ziporüt (vo), goldafit, golüdafit (original Volapük, Volapük rigik)
• Welsh: pysgod aur m pl, pysgodyn aur m sg (singulative)
• West Frisian: goudfisk c
• Yiddish: גאָלדפֿיש m (goldfish)
• Zhuang: byagim

person with an unreliable memory

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: huonomuistinen (fi), kultakala (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Persian: ^{(please verify)} ماهی قرمز, ^{(please verify)} ماهی طلائی
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} caras rosu, ^{(please verify)} caras-auriu
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} karas zlatý (sk)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ปลาทอง (bplaa-tɔɔng)