Meaning
An odd, eccentric, or unconventional person. Old-fashioned and potentially awkward or offensive today. The idiom predates the modern identity sense of queer, but queer can be a sensitive or reclaimed LGBTQ+ term; odd fish or eccentric is usually clearer unless discussing historical wording. Regional use: Chiefly British.
Origin
The phrase uses queer in its older sense of strange or unusual and fish as an informal label for a person. A Dictionary of Idiomatic English Phrases entered a queer fish as an eccentric person in 1891, showing that the figurative expression was established by the late 19th century; that dictionary citation is not proof of coinage. No evidence identifies a particular fish, incident, or author as the source, and the precise development of the compound remains uncertain.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Odd fish
Usage Examples
- The narrator of the period novel calls the solitary inventor a queer fish.
- Rather than dismiss her as a queer fish, Arun took time to understand her unusual routine.
- In modern conversation, odd fish is less likely than queer fish to be misunderstood.