Ghoti

Ghoti is a creative respelling of the word fish, used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling.

Explanation

The word is intended to be pronounced in the same way (/ˈfɪʃ/), using these sounds:

However, linguists have pointed out that the location of the letters in the constructed word is inconsistent with how those letters would be pronounced in those placements, and that the expected pronunciation in English would be "goaty". For instance, the letters "gh" are not pronounced /f/ at the beginning of a syllable, and the letters "ti" are not pronounced /ʃ/ at the end of a syllable.

History

An early known published reference is in 1874, citing an 1855 letter that credits ghoti to one William Ollier Jr (born 1824).Ghoti is often cited to support the English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, a supporter of this cause. However, the word does not appear in Shaw's writings, and a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer. Similar constructed words exist that demonstrate English idiosyncrasies, but ghoti is the most widely recognized.