A fishhook is a small bent piece of metal with a sharp point. You fasten it to the end of a fishing line — a long string — often with a bit of food or a fake fly on it, and you wait for a fish to bite. Most hooks have a tiny backward point called a barb, so the fish cannot slip off easily; though actually some fishers now use hooks with no barb, so they can let the fish go with less hurt. When everyone already knows you are talking about fishing, people often just say hook. You will also see fish-hook or fish hook written as two bits; learner books like the one-word form. There is a quiet extra picture too: the Jack in a pack of cards is sometimes nicknamed a fishhook, because the letter J on the card looks like one. That is only a joke name, not the main meaning.

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