Characiforms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Freshwater fishes belonging to the order Characiformes, a large group that includes tetras, piranhas and pencilfishes found mainly in the Americas and Africa
2. Members of the taxonomic order Characiformes, a diverse assemblage of mostly tropical freshwater fish such as tetras and piranhas
3. Tropical freshwater fish classified in the order Characiformes, including many popular aquarium species like tetras and the carnivorous piranha

Etymology: "Characiforms" is the plural of "characiform," a term for any fish belonging to the order Characiformes, a large group that includes tetras, piranhas and African tigerfishes. The adjective is built from "characin," the name of a family of these fish, combined with the suffix "-iform," from Latin "forma," meaning shape or form, so the word essentially means "characin-shaped" or "resembling a characin."