Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A word found on many seals, rings, urns, tombstones, etc., belonging to the early period of Christianity, and supposed to have a mystical reference to the name and office of Jesus Christ. See the etymology.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as ichthus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stylized representation of a fish, used as a Christian symbol

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ (ikhthus, "fish"), which served as an acronym for Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous, "Jesus") Χριστός (Khristos, "Christ") Θεοῦ (Theou, "of God") Υἱός (Huios, "son") Σωτήρ (Sōtēr, "saviour").

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Examples

  • Acronymy has ancient roots, as illustrated by the early Christian use of the Greek word ichthys meaning "fish" as an acronym for Iēsous Christos, Theou Huios, Sōtēr

    NYT > Home Page By BEN ZIMMER 2010

  • Hard to believe that a Kirk Cameron ichthys affair and Disaster Movie will ultimately out gross Sex Drive.

    Sex Drive’s Sean Anders and John Morris Set For Dead Mom Comedy | /Film 2008

  • February 24, 2008 at 8:04 pm to Keykat i saw that you added an ichthys to the list one time having to do wif a fish? keykat says:

    third wheel kitteh - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • Putting a Darwin fish on your car's bumper is not quite the same thing--co-opting the ichthys symbol hardly advances scientific thought, and given the ichthys' history, I can understand why folks might be upset by it.

    Archive 2008-08-01 doyle 2008

  • Putting a Darwin fish on your car's bumper is not quite the same thing--co-opting the ichthys symbol hardly advances scientific thought, and given the ichthys' history, I can understand why folks might be upset by it.

    Big Ideas: "One Living Filament" doyle 2008

  • A couple weeks ago, I read on someone's blog sorry, I don't remember whose, a discussion of how people felt about being customers of businesses that advertise with the fish sign, the ichthys, long a symbol of Christianity.

    Archive 2007-03-01 Bardiac 2007

  • Upon the symbolic significance of the fish and the anagram ichthys, it cannot be necessary to insist.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

Comments

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  • Also spelled ichthus, but I prefer the "y" version.

    March 27, 2007

  • Ichthys (Greek, transliterated and Latinized as ichthys, icthus, ichthus or ikhthus; ichthus), is the Ancient and Classical Greek word for "fish." In English it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, said to have been used by early Christians as a secret symbol and now known colloquially as the "Jesus fish"

    _Wikipedia

    January 26, 2008