Etymology From cat + fish. Likely so named for its prominent barbels like a cat's whiskers. Compare West Frisian katfisk (“catfish”), Dutch katvis (“catfish”). Compare also German Seekatze (“catfish”, literally “sea-cat”).
1
Any fish of the order Siluriformes, mainly found in fresh water, lacking scales, and having barbels like whiskers around the mouth.
“You don’t see catfish that big anymore, except in Chernobyl […] Nobody fishes there anymore, so the catfish thrive. They’ve gotten really enormous, some even twelve or thirteen feet long. They’re bottom-feeders, and apparently the mud still contains a lot of radioactive particles, but the catfish don’t seem to mind.”2013, Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, Canongate Books (2019), page 213:
2
The meat of such a fish, popular in the Southern U.S. and Central Europe.
Etymology From cat + fish. Likely so named for its prominent barbels like a cat's whiskers. Compare West Frisian katfisk (“catfish”), Dutch katvis (“catfish”). Compare also German Seekatze (“catfish”, literally “sea-cat”).
Etymology From the 2010 documentary Catfish, supposedly inspired by the practice of fishermen keeping cod active by storing them with catfish (see sense 1) which nip at their tails.
1
Internet Someone who creates a false profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people.
Real people in a picture that was used by a catfish to create a fake identity could have a claim because their likeness was used without permission, Shear said.2013 January 17, Mary Pilon, “In Te’o Story, Deception Ripped From the Screen”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2020:
Many online dating users create profiles on these online dating platforms looking for potential partners. However, they might end up meeting with users who have bad intentions, potential catfish. These catfish have begun pushing away potential, innocent users and possibly hindering the success of these online dating platforms.2020, Mariah Simmons, Joon Suk Lee, “Catfishing: A Look into Online Dating and Impersonation”, in Gabriele Meiselwitz, editor, Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis: 12th International Conference, SCSM 2020, […] (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 12194), part I, Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, →ISBN, “Ethics and Misinformation in Social Media” section, page 356:
Etymology From the 2010 documentary Catfish, supposedly inspired by the practice of fishermen keeping cod active by storing them with catfish (see sense 1) which nip at their tails.
1
Internet, Slang To create and operate a fake online profile to deceive (someone).
Getting catfished is when someone falls for a person online who is not necessarily real. It can involve pictures, phone calls, social media profiles, text messages, e-mails and even phony friends or family members.2013 January 17, Mary Pilon, “In Te’o Story, Deception Ripped From the Screen”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2020:
[to Abed] You made a profile for a fake dude and lured her into an online relationship. [to Annie] He's catfishing you.2014 January 16, 12:17 from the start, in Cooperative Polygraphy (Community), season 5, episode 4 (TV), spoken by Troy (Donald Glover), via NBC: