Ghoti

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A playful respelling of the word fish, built by taking gh from enough, o from women, and ti from nation
2. A whimsical alternative spelling of fish that is often credited to a joke about English irregular spelling
3. An facetious way of writing fish by borrowing odd letter combinations from other English words such as enough, women and nation

Etymology: The most popular story credits George Bernard Shaw with inventing "ghoti" to show how odd English spelling is, but the word is older than him. Shaw, who campaigned for spelling reform, is often named as its author, yet it was already in circulation around 1855, decades before he was born in 1856. That attribution is a misconception that persists despite the earlier record. The spelling works by borrowing sounds from ordinary English words. The "gh" is pronounced "f" as in "rough," the "o" is pronounced "i" as in "women," and "ti" is pronounced "sh" as in "nation." Put together, they spell "fish." The joke exaggerates the irregularity, since "gh" makes an "f" sound only at the end of a word and "ti" makes a "sh" sound only before a vowel. The word itself comes from Bengali "ghoṭi," meaning a type of fish-related term borrowed into English. Its use as a playful spelling is a purely English development.