Antiphagy
/ˌæn.tɪˈfædʒ.i/noun
The practice or state of eating one’s own kind, or cannibalism.
Did you know?Antiphagy is built from Greek roots meaning “against” and “eating,” and the same -phagy root survives in words like “sarcophagus,” originally a “flesh-eater” stone coffin.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
antiphagía (ἀντιφαγία)
“eating against, or eating one another”
Late Greek
Greek
antiphagḗs (ἀντιφαγής)
“eating one another; cannibalistic”
Medieval Latin
Latin
antiphagia
“cannibalism or mutual eating”
Early Modern English
English
antiphagy
“cannibalism; mutual eating”
Modern English
English
antiphagy
“the practice of eating one’s own kind”
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