Cockfish
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A male fish, especially a salmon or trout.
"Spawning fish on the redds. A henfish will often be attended by two or three cockfish – whilst displaying ritual combat between themselves, one cock will mate, others may follow [image caption]"
- 2 A person who cockfishes. Internet, vulgar
"Cockfish (sometimes known as catcocks) are loosely related to catfish in that they use the mystery of the world wide web to misrepresent who they are to potential friends, dates, or even financial donors. However, whereas a catfish will cloak pretty much their whole identity – often with a fake name and pictures stolen from someone else – the cockfish is only interested in changing the identity of their penis."
- 3 A callorhinchid fish, Callorhinchus callorynchus, native to South America.
"Morphology of the main digestive features of cockfish, Callorhinchus callorhynchus, is described and linked to feeding habits. […] The diet of the cockfish is compared with that of other holocephalans."
- 4 A cyprinid fish, Hypselobarbus dubius, native to India.
- 1 To deceive others by using fake photos of one’s genitalia. Internet, vulgar
"If you’re engaging in a flirtatious conversation with a new acquaintance, be cautious about exchanging explicit photos if you haven’t met them in person to avoid falling for this exploitative technique. Here are three reasons why people “cockfish” and tips to help you protect yourself."
Example
More examples"Spawning fish on the redds. A henfish will often be attended by two or three cockfish – whilst displaying ritual combat between themselves, one cock will mate, others may follow [image caption]"
Etymology
From cock + fish.
Blend of cock (“penis”) + catfish (“(to create) a fake online profile”).
More for "cockfish"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.