different between phony vs fishy

English

Alternative forms

• phoney (British)

Etymology

Perhaps an alteration of fawney (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?fo?ni/
• Rhymes: -??ni

Adjective

phony (comparative phonier, superlative phoniest)

1. (informal) Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.

Synonyms

• (fraudulent): bogus, counterfeit, fake
• See also Thesaurus:fake

Antonyms

• authentic
• genuine

Derived terms

• phoniness
• phoneyness
• phony as a three-dollar bill

Translations

Noun

phony (plural phonies)

1. (informal) A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.

2. (informal) A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.

3. (informal) Anything fraudulent or fake.
   • 2013, John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, Crime Classification Manual (page 131)

     One name was a phony, but the other was the true name. The clerk remembered the man who had filed the tags since he acquired two sets of plates with different names.

Synonyms

• (faker): dissembler, pretender, fake, faker

Derived terms

• phony up, phoney up
• Phony War, Phoney War

Translations

Verb

phony (third-person singular simple present phonies, present participle phonying, simple past and past participle phonied)

1. To fake.

Anagrams

• hypno-

English

Etymology

From Middle English fishi, fischey, equivalent to fish +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?f??i/
• Rhymes: -??i

Noun

fishy (plural fishies)

1. (childish) Diminutive of fish.

Alternative forms

• fishie

Synonyms

• fishy wishy

Translations

Adjective

fishy (comparative fishier, superlative fishiest)

1. Of, from, or similar to fish.
2. Suspicious; inspiring doubt.
   • 1973, Matt Braun, chapter 5, in El Paso, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, ?ISBN; reprinted New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, July 1999, page 236:

     There was something more to this than met the eye, and he had the distinct feeling that the marshal had just snookered him into a corner. But he couldn't very well refuse, and it would look fishy if he demanded they march now.

3. (LGBT slang) Of drag queens: appearing feminine.

Synonyms

• (of, from, or similar to fish): fishlike, fishly, ichthyic, piscine

Derived terms

• fishily
• smell fishy

Related terms

• fishify

Translations