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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

phishing en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The malicious act of keeping a false website or sending a false e-mail with the intent of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in order to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.
    • Holonym: social engineering
    • A growing number of U.S. cities are alerting residents to a widespread phishing scam involving fraudulent text messages about unpaid parking violations. 2025 March 11, Sunny Yadav, “US Cities Warn of Surge in Unpaid Parking Phishing Text Scams”, in eSecurity Planet:
  2. (uncountable) The act of circumventing security with an alias.

Deriveds

quishing · antiphishing

Hypernyms

fraud · spoofing · cybercrime · scam

Relateds

spearphishing · phisher · phish

Translations (44)

eo rettrompado (malicious act) · yue 釣魚法 /钓鱼法 (malicious act) · cy gwe-rwydo (malicious act) · fi phishing (malicious act) · fr hameçonnage (malicious act) · ko 피싱 (malicious act) · ka ფიშინგი (malicious act) · he פישינג (malicious act) · ca pesca (malicious act) · ja フィッシング詐欺 (malicious act) · fa فیشینگ (malicious act) · ca pesca per correu electrònic (malicious act) · ru фи́шинг (malicious act) · ja フィッシング (malicious act) · yue 網釣法 /网钓法 (malicious act) · fi tietojen kalastelu (malicious act) · cmn 網絡網釣 /网络网钓 (malicious act) · es phishing (malicious act) · cmn 網釣法 /网钓法 (malicious act) · pt phishing (malicious act) · id pengelabuan (malicious act) · cs phishing (malicious act) · yue 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈 (malicious act) · fi verkkourkinta (malicious act) · yue 網絡網釣 /网络网钓 (malicious act) · ka თაღლითობა (malicious act) · fi khalastelu (malicious act) · af uitvissing (malicious act) · nl phishing (malicious act) · sv nätfiske (malicious act) · pl wyłudzanie danych (malicious act) · cmn 釣魚式攻擊 /钓鱼式攻击 (malicious act) · ga fioscaireacht (malicious act) · es fishin (malicious act) · yue 釣魚式攻擊 /钓鱼式攻击 (malicious act) · cmn 釣魚欺詐 /钓鱼欺诈 (malicious act) · ro înșelăciune electronică (malicious act) · he דִּיּוּג (malicious act) · mi hītinihanga (malicious act) · cs rhybaření (malicious act) · cmn 網路網釣 /网路网钓 (malicious act) · hu adathalászat (malicious act) · cmn 釣魚法 /钓鱼法 (malicious act) · de Phishing (malicious act)

phishing en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.

Meanings

  1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present) present participle and gerund of phish
    form of phish