Animals, plants & weather

piranha

Old Tupi pirãîa, a 'toothed fish' whose jaw also served as scissors, lives on in the Nheengatu of the Amazon and came into English through Portuguese; horror films then took the word to Japan and Korea.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Old Tupi to Spanish

From Old Tupi to Nheengatu

From Portuguese to Dutch

From Portuguese to Russian

From English to Japanese

From English to Korean

1585Old Tupi

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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