hatfish

9.9

A person who looks very different without their usual hat

noun

Offensive

: persona irreconocible sin sombrero

Everyone was surprised when the hatfish took off his cap and looked completely different.

Examples

He joked about being a hatfish because no one recognizes him without his favorite fedora.
He is such a hatfish without his cap!
After meeting him in person, she realized he was a hatfish all along.
Many people are hatfishes when they take off their hats.
Everyone was surprised when the hatfish took off his cap and looked completely different.
After meeting him in person, she realized he was a hatfish all along.
He joked about being a hatfish because no one recognizes him without his favorite fedora.

Surface Forms

hatfish singular

hatfishes plural

Morphology

hatfish = hat + fish (opaque) = hat + fish

The term 'hatfish' is a play on 'catfish', referring to someone who looks different without a hat. The meaning is not directly derivable from 'hat' and 'fish'.

Etymology

The word hatfish is a playful blend of hat and the slang catfish, where catfish means 'someone who pretends to be someone else online'. So a hatfish is someone who looks very different without their hat, almost like a different person, which is why the word means someone who is unrecognizable when not wearing a hat.