an order of fishes including almost entirely freshwater fishes: characins; loaches; carp; suckers; sometimes classified as Cyprinoidea, a suborder of Ostariophysi.

The Cypriniformes are an order of ray-finned fish, including the minnows and some related families. Historically these included all the forms now placed in the superorder Ostariophysi except the catfish, which were placed in the order Siluriformes. Defined thus, the Cypriniformes were paraphyletic, and recently the orders Gonorhynchiformes, Characiformes (characins and allies), and Gymnotiformes (knifefishes and electric eels) have been separated out to form their own monophyletic orders.