piranha
pronunciation
How to pronounce piranha in British English:
UK [pɪˈrɑ:nə]
How to pronounce piranha in American English:
US [pɪˈrɑnjə, -ˈrænjə, -ˈrɑnə, -ˈrænə]
-
- Noun:
- someone who attacks in search of booty
- small voraciously carnivorous freshwater fishes of South America that attack and destroy living animals
Word Origin
- piranha (n.)
- also pirana, 1869, from Portuguese piranha, from Tupi (Brazil) pira nya, variant of pira'ya, literally "scissors."
Example
- 1. Barks : when confronting another piranha face to face .
- 2. When the piranha strikes , it feels no shame .
- 3. Liuzhou officials have not said how they planned to guard against the possibility of piranha arbitrage .
- 4. Now they want to know whether piranha vocalize while mating .
- 5. So while piranha may not win your hearts with cuddly good looks , they are probably more victim than vicious .