English 'piranha' from Portuguese, from Tupi 'pirá' (fish) + 'anha' (tooth) — literally 'tooth-fish.'
A predatory freshwater fish native to South American rivers, known for its sharp teeth and powerful jaws.
From Portuguese 'piranha,' borrowed from the Tupi language — specifically from Tupi 'pirá' (fish) + 'anha' or 'sainha' (tooth), literally 'tooth-fish' or 'fish with teeth.' The Tupi were indigenous peoples of coastal Brazil and the Amazon basin whose language became a vital source of Portuguese loanwords for New World flora, fauna, and landscape. The compound is semantically transparent: the piranha is named entirely for its most fearsome and distinctive characteristic — its razor-sharp, interlocking, triangular teeth capable of stripping flesh with extraordinary efficiency. Tupi also gave Portuguese (and English
Despite their fearsome reputation, most piranha species are omnivores that primarily eat fish, insects, and plants. The image of piranhas stripping a cow to bone in seconds was promoted by Theodore Roosevelt after his 1913 Amazon expedition — locals had staged the demonstration by starving a school of piranhas and confining them in a small area. The Tupi element 'pirá' (fish) appears in many Brazilian place names