fisc

English

Etymology

Partly from Middle French fisc and partly from its etymon, Latin fiscus (“basket, money-bag, public treasury”); see fiscal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪsk/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsk
• Homophone: fisk

Noun

fisc (plural fiscs)

1. (Ancient Rome) The public treasury of Rome.
2. Any state treasury or exchequer.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, page 340:

     When they had resolved to appropriate to the Fisc, a certain portion of the landed property of their conquered country, it was their business to render their bank a real fund of credit […].

   • 2026 February 3, “The End of Free Speech” (10:39 from the start), in LegalEagle‎^[1], spoken by Liz Dye, retrieved 3 February 2026:

     He did not mention that Trump is about as popular with the British public as drug-resistant syphilis and that it would be political suicide to bribe him with cash out of the public fisc.

Related terms

• confiscate
• confiscation
• fiscal

Anagrams

• IFSC, ICFs, fics, CIFS, SCIF, CFIs

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fīscus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfisk]

Noun

fisc m (plural fiscs or fiscos)

1. treasury, public purse

Related terms

• fiscal

Further reading

• “fisc”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fiscus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fisk/

Noun

fisc m (plural fiscs)

1. (economics) tax authorities, fiscal administration
   1. government department of taxation

Further reading

• “fisc”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Frankish and Proto-West Germanic *fisk, Proto-Germanic *fiskaz, from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“fish”).

Noun

fisc m

1. fish

Inflection

Declension of fisc (masculine a-stem noun)

case	singular	plural
nominative	fisc	fisca
accusative	fisc	fisca
genitive	fiskes	fisco
dative	fiske	fiscon

Alternative forms

• visc

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: visch, visc, vis, vesch, fisch, fisc
  • Dutch: vis, visch (before 1934)
    • Afrikaans: vis
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: fesi
    • Jersey Dutch: väśe
    • Negerhollands: visch, vesch, fes, fis, vis
      • → Virgin Islands Creole: fis (dated)
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: fesi, fisse, fiche
    • Petjo: fis
    • →? Aukan: fisi
  • Limburgish: visj, vèsj
  • West Flemish: vissch

Further reading

• “fisk”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

The word fisc is found on the early 8th century Franks Casket, one of the oldest monuments of Old English ("ᚠᛁᛋᚳ.ᚠᛚᚩᛞᚢ" or "fisc flódu") .

Alternative forms

• fix
• ᚠᛁᛋᚳ (fisc) — Runic

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fisk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiʃ/

Noun

fisċ m (nominative plural fiscas)

1. fish
   • c. 994, Ælfric, On the Year

     Ǣlċe mōnað hēo yrnð under ān þǣra tacna. Ān þǣra tacna ys ġehāten aries, þæt is ramm; oðer taurus, þæt is fearr; ðridda gemini, þæt synd ġetwisan; fēorða cancer, þæt is crabba; fīfta leo; syxta virgo, þæt is mǣden; seofoða libra, þæt is pund orde wǣġe; eahtoðe scorpius, þæt is þrōwend; nigoða is sagittarius, þæt is sċytta; teoða ys capricornus, þæt is buccan horn, oððe bucca; endlyfta is aquarius, þæt is wæter-ġyte, oððe þe þe wæter ġyt; twelfte is pisces, þæt synd fixas.

     Each month runs under one of the signs [of the Zodiac]. The first of the signs is called aries, that is "ram"; the second is taurus, that is "bull"; the third is gemini, that is "twins"; the fourth is cancer, that is "crab"; the fifth is lion; the sixth is virgo, that is "virgin"; the seventh is libra, that is "pound" or "scales”; eighth is scorpious, that is "scorpion"; ninth is sagittarius, that is "shooter"; tenth is capricornus, that is "he-goat's horn" or "he-goat"; eleventh is aquarius, that is "pouring water" or "one that pours water"; twelfth is pisces, that is "fishes."

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	fisċ	fiscas
accusative	fisċ	fiscas
genitive	fisċes	fisca
dative	fisċe	fiscum

Derived terms

• fisċere (“fisherman”)
• fiscian (“to fish”)
• fisċnett (“fishing net”)
• fisċwēr (“fishweir”)
• sċielfisċ (“shellfish”)
• *sweordfisċ (“swordfish”)

Descendants

• Middle English: fisch, fysshe, fysch, fish, fische, fis, fyshe, fissh, vish, fissk (Ormulum)
  • English: fish (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: fish, fysch, fisch
  • Yola: wish

See also

• angol (“fishhook”)

Old Saxon

Noun

fisc m

1. alternative form of fisk

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fisc.

Noun

fisc n (uncountable)

1. (economics) fiscal administration

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	fisc	fiscul
genitive-dative	fisc	fiscului
vocative	fiscule