ghoti

See also: Ghoti

English

Etymology 1

How a ghoti might look

A jocular spelling of fish (/fɪʃ/) used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling:

• gh, /f/ as in rough, /ɹʌf/;
• o, /ɪ/ as in women, /ˈwɪm.ɪn/; and
• ti, /ʃ/ as in nation, /ˈneɪ̯.ʃən/.

Though frequently reported to be a coinage of George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), this term dates back to at least 1855.

Although the goal of the word is to highlight the irregularities of the English orthography, it deliberately exaggerates them, as ⟨gh⟩ is /f/ only word-finally and ⟨ti⟩ is /ʃ/ only before a vowel.

Pronunciation

• (intended)
  • enPR: fĭsh, IPA^(key): (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, Australia, Scotland, India) /fɪʃ/, (New Zealand) /fəʃ/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Australia):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɪʃ
  • Homophones: fish, phish
  • Hyphenation: ghoti
• (common)
  • enPR: gō′tē, IPA^(key): (Received Pronunciation) /ˈɡəʊ̯.tiː/, (General American, Canada) /ˈɡoʊ̯.ti/, (Australia) /ˈɡəʉ̯.tiː/, (New Zealand) /ˈɡɐʉ̯.tiː/, (Scotland) /ˈɡo.ti/, (India) /ˈɡoː.ʈiː/
  • Rhymes: -əʊtiː
  • Hyphenation: gho‧ti

Noun

ghoti (plural ghoti or ghoties or ghotis)

2. (humorous, nonstandard, rare) A constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish.
   • 2010 June 25, Ben Zimmer, “2010-06-25”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 July 2018:

     Robinson suggested to me that William Ollier could have come up with ghoti in a parlor game of Ellis-inspired silly spellings.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:ghoti.

Usage notes

• The term is often mentioned and discussed, but very rarely used; see: Use–mention distinction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Noun

ghoti (plural ghotis)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Ghoti.
   • 1995, The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, Mumbai, →OCLC, page 106, column 1:

     The bangals deride ghoti food as cloyingly sweet, bland without much oil and spices — ‘What do the ghotis know of good cooking anyway?’ On their part, the ghotis decry the bangal way of eating foul smelling shutki fish and drowning their food in too much oil and spices. ‘The bangals even put fish in their shukto, can you believe it?’ they exclaim.

   • 2005, The Indian Journal of Social Work, Mumbai: Department of Publications, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11:

     Labelled with distinct identities, ghotis are the original inhabitants of West Bengal, and bangals are those who have migrated from Bangladesh. The bangals have been stereotyped as shrewd, opportunistic, greedy, parochial, and considered good enough only to become cooks or sweet-makers. The ghotis consider themselves superior to bangals.

   • 2009, Bhaskar Sarkar, “Bengali Cinema: A Spectral Subnationality”, in Mourning the Nation: Indian Cinema in the Wake of Partition, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISBN, part I (A Resonant Silence), page 158:

     Since the onset of modernity in the nineteenth century, West Bengalis or ghotis from the Calcutta area, who are generally Hindu, have enjoyed a certain cultural ascendancy within Bengal: they consider themselves more modern, more culturally refined, and more progressive than the bangals, who are dismissed as comparatively backward country bumpkins.

   • 2015 September 6, Mail Today Comment, “QUICK EDIT: AIFF needs to nurture Indian football”, in Daily Mail‎^[3], London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 October 2015:

     East Bengal registered a thumping 4-0 win over Mohun Bagan to seal the Calcutta Football League (CFL) title, and for the time being bangals have scored a point over the ghotis.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Bengali ঘটি (ghoṭi).

Noun

ghoti (plural ghotis)

1. A type of small Bengali waterpot used for washing.
   • 1888, Report on the Condition of the Lower Classes of Population in Bengal, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, page 21:

     His metal vessels are—of brass, a kalsi, a garu, and two ghotis; of bell-metal, three thalis, three ghotis, and four batis.

   • 1895, D.H.E. Sunder, “The Dobasiyas”, in Survey and Settlement of the Western Duars in the District of Jalpaiguri, 1889 - 1895, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, part I (The Tract under Settlement), chapter VII (Social Life and Religions of the People), page 175, column 2; reprinted Siliguri, West Bengal: N. L. Publishers, 2013, →ISBN:

     After this, two women bathe her by pouring seven ghotis or lotas of water over her, and they also rub her with turmeric, methi, and scented oil.

   • 1956, The All India Reporter, Nagpur, Bombay State: The All India Reporter Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 187, column 1:

     The case for the prosecution was that at about sun-set on 7-9-1952 Aghona Kachari who is at places described as Aghona Master (a teacher) went out to a place within his compound to attend to the call of nature with a ghoti (water pot) in his hand.

   • 1995, Harekrishna Deka, translated by D N Bezboruah, “The Prisoner”, in Katha Prize Stories, volume 5, New Delhi: Katha, →ISBN, page 102:

     The gaonburha’s son reappeared, carrying a small bucket of water, a brass ghoti and a clean gamosa, and requested him to have a wash.

   • 1998, B[raja] B[ihārī] Kumāra, The Tribal Societies of India: A Macro Perception, New Delhi: Omsons Publications, →ISBN, page 280:

     Household articles are cots, mats, metallic disces^[sic] and tumblers (thalis, ghotis), earthen water vassels (kalsi), wooden laddles (spoons), wooden cattle-bells (tharkeas), and measures (poila), bamboo umbrellas, baskets, axes, sickles, daos, etc.

Further reading

• “ghoti”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.