Definition of platy in English:
platy
nounPlural platies ˈplati
A small live-bearing freshwater fish of Central America, which is popular in aquaria.
Genus Xiphophorus, family Poeciliidae: several species, in particular X. maculatus, which has been bred in a wide variety of colours
Example sentencesExamples
- He's lived happily for the past four months with a platy and two neon tetras in a five gallon aquarium.
- Prompted by my concern for Linda's ‘tough-love’ hardened goldfish and platies, I was given Nigel as an outlet for my protective zeal.
- In the swordless platies, females also prefer males with artificially attached swords over conspecific males.
- Coexistence of the two types of sex-determining mechanisms in the same species is unusual and has been reported only in the platy fish, housefly, and midge.
- Examples include the jewelfish and spotted tilapia; and livebearers, such as swordtails, platies and mollies, and armored catfishes.
Origin
Early 20th century: colloquial abbreviation of modern Latin Platypoecilus (former genus name), from Greek platus 'broad' + poikilos 'variegated'.