piranha
piranha — 名詞
- piranhasingular
- piranhasplural
1. a freshwater fish found in rivers across South America, known for its extremely
食人魚
南美洲淡水魚，有銳利牙齒
a freshwater fish found in rivers across South America, known for its extremely sharp teeth and its habit of attacking and eating animals, sometimes including humans
Piranhas may hide near the riverbank, so the guide warned tourists to stay back.
食人魚可能躲在河岸附近，所以導遊警告遊客要保持距離。
subject of main clause; plural generic
Dr. Okonkwo watched a shoal of piranhas strip a fish clean in minutes.
Okonkwo 博士看著一群食人魚在幾分鐘內把一條魚啃得乾乾淨淨。
countable plural: shoal of piranhas + strip [prey] clean
A piranha bit through the nylon ropes of a fishing net in Brazil.
一條食人魚咬穿了巴西某處漁網的尼龍繩。
Local communities along the Amazon once used dried piranha teeth as small cutting blades.
亞馬遜地區的居民過去曾把乾燥的食人魚牙齒當作小刀片使用。
- carnivorous fish
broader category; piranhas are one specific kind of carnivorous fish
- predator fish
general behavioural term; piranha names a particular species group
用法筆記
A loanword from Portuguese via the Tupi language (pirá 'fish' + ánha 'tooth'). In informal English, describing someone as 'piranha-like' or 'a piranha' suggests they are aggressively competitive, though this figurative use is not standard in reference works.