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carapo

carapo noun: the banded knifefish, a Brazilian fish, Gymnotus carapo.

Noun

carapo (plural carapos)

  1. The banded knifefish, a Brazilian fish, Gymnotus carapo.
    • The CARAPO, so called in Brasil, has a body about a foot in length, and not two inches in breadth, being in the shape of a knife, [...]1763, The Natural History of Fishes and Serpents, Including Sea-turtles, Crustaceous, and Shell Fishes, with Their Medicinal Uses: 3, page 67
    • 2. Gymnotus carapo. The head of the carapo is of a compressed form, and the upper jaw projects beyond the lower: the tongue is short, [...]. The usual length of the carapo is from 1 to 2 feet; [...]. 3. Gymnotus rostratus, or rostrated gymnote. In its general aspect this species is much allied to...1806, George Gregory, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: In Two Volumes, page 892

Examples of carapo in a sentence

  • The head of the carapo is of a compressed form, and the upper jaw projects beyond the lower: the tongue is short, [...].1806, George Gregory, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: In Two Volumes, page 892:
  • The first species of the Sternopygidae mentioned in literature is the carapo of Marcgrav.1893, Carl H. Eigenmann, Papers on Fishes of South and Middle America, page 556:
  • This single specimen was found among the carapo individuals of sample ZMA 101968.1957, Bulletin of Aquatic Biology, volumes 1-3, page 55:

Forms of carapo

pluralcarapos

Origin of carapo

Via Portuguese [Term?] from Tupian sara'pó.

Questions about carapo

What does carapo mean?
Carapo means the banded knifefish, a Brazilian fish, Gymnotus carapo.
How do you use carapo in a sentence?
The head of the carapo is of a compressed form, and the upper jaw projects beyond the lower: the tongue is short, [...].
What part of speech is carapo?
Carapo is a noun.
What is the plural of carapo?
The plural of carapo is carapos.

Words near carapo in the dictionary

  1. Carapia
  2. Carapias
  3. Carapicuíba
  4. carapid
  5. carapids
  6. carapo
  7. Carapooee
  8. Carapooee West
  9. Carapook
  10. carapos
  11. caraps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carapo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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