Pencilfishes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small slender freshwater fish of South America prized by aquarists ; the plural form referring to several of these tiny fish together
2. Tiny tropical characins with pencil-like bodies found in streams ; the form used when speaking of more than one such species or individual
3. Slim aquarium fish from the Lebiasinidae family ; the plural noun denoting a group of these small, narrow-bodied freshwater creatures

Etymology: Pencilfishes are small freshwater characins from South America, and the name is a simple compound: "pencil" plus "fish," the fish named for its slender, elongated body. The plural simply adds "-es" to "pencilfish," following the usual English rule for nouns ending in "sh." Because the body shape is the whole point of the name, the word needs no further history to explain itself: a fish built like a writing implement became a pencilfish.