carnivore

carnivore

See also: Carnivore

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French carnivore, from Latin carnivorus. In the zoological sense, coined by William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French carnivore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːnɪvɔː/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːɹ.nɪ.vɔɹ/

Noun

carnivore (plural carnivores)

1. An organism that feeds chiefly on animals; an animal that feeds on meat as the main part of its diet.

   Synonyms: meat-eater, zoophage

   As juveniles the crocodiles are frequently predated by larger carnivores.

2. (zoology) A mammal belonging to the order Carnivora.

   Synonym: carnivoran

   The panda and the panther are both carnivores.

3. (informal) A person who is not a vegetarian.

   Synonyms: meat-eater, meatarian, (often humorous) meatatarian, (now rare) kreophagist, nonvegetarian, (derogatory) bloodmouth

4. A follower of the carnivore diet (consuming only animal-based products, such as meat, eggs and dairy)

Usage notes

Not all meat-eaters (e.g. meat-eating birds and fish) belong to Carnivora, and not all Carnivora are meat-eaters (e.g. giant panda). To avoid the confusion, a new term carnivoran has been introduced to mean "belonging to Carnivora".

Synonyms

• zoophage
• meatarian, meatatarian (of people)

Derived terms

• carnivorism
• carnivorous
• carnivorousness
• carnivory
• facultative carnivore
• hypercarnivore
• hypocarnivore
• macrocarnivore
• mesocarnivore
• microcarnivore
• obligate carnivore

Related terms

• Carnivora
• carnivoran
• carnivorous
• folivore
• frugivore
• hemovore
• herbivore
• insectivore
• omnivore
• piscivore

Translations

meat-eating animal

Afrikaans: karnivoor (af), vleiseter Arabic: لَاحِم‎ m (lāḥim) Armenian: գիշատիչ (hy) (gišatičʿ), մսակեր կենդանի (msaker kendani) Breton: kigdebrer (br) m Bulgarian: месояден m (mesojaden) Burmese: အသားစား (my) du or c du (a.sa:ca:) Catalan: carnívor (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 食肉動物／食肉动物 (zh) (shíròu dòngwù) Czech: masožravec (cs) m Danish: kødæder (da), rovdyr (da) n Dutch: carnivoor (nl) m, vleeseter (nl) m Esperanto: karnomanĝulo, karnovorulo Estonian: lihasööja (et) Finnish: lihansyöjä (fi) French: carnivore (fr) m Galician: carnívoro (gl) m Georgian: ხორცისმჭამელი (xorcismč̣ameli), მტაცებელი (mṭacebeli), ხორცისმჭამელი ცხოველი (xorcismč̣ameli cxoveli), ხორცისმჭამელი ძუძუმწოვარი (xorcismč̣ameli ʒuʒumc̣ovari) German: Fleischfresser (de) m Greek: σαρκοφάγος (el) m (sarkofágos), σαρκοβόρος (el) m (sarkovóros) Greenlandic: neqituumasoq Hebrew: טוֹרֵף‎ (he) m (toréf) Hungarian: húsevő (hu) Icelandic: kjötæta (is) f Indonesian: pemakan daging (id), karnivor (id) Italian: carnivoro (it) m Japanese: 肉食動物 (にくしょくどうぶつ, nikushoku dōbutsu) Khmer: មំសាសី (km) (meang sa sey) Korean: 육식 동물(肉食動物) (yuksik dongmul) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: goştxur (ku) Latin: carnivora f Latvian: gaļēdājs m, gaļēdāja f Macedonian: месоја́дец m (mesojádec) Malay: binatang maging, haiwan maging, haiwan karnivor, karnivor Malayalam: മാംസഭുക്ക് (māṃsabhukkŭ) Maori: kaikiko Mongolian: махчин (mn) (maxčin) Navajo: naaldeehii daʼalghałígíí Norwegian: Bokmål: kjøtteter m Nynorsk: kjøtetar m Persian: گوشتخوار‎ (fa) (guštxâr) Polish: mięsożerca (pl) m, drapieżnik (pl) m Portuguese: carnívoro (pt) m Russian: хи́щник (ru) m (xíščnik), плотоя́дное живо́тное n (plotojádnoje živótnoje), мясое́д (ru) m (mjasojéd) (literal, technical) Scottish Gaelic: feòil-itheadair m Serbo-Croatian: mesožder (sh), mesojedac, mesojed (sh), Slovak: mäsožravec m Slovene: mesojedec (sl) m, mesojed m, mesojedka f Spanish: carnívoro (es) Swahili: mla-nyama Swedish: köttätare (sv) c Tagalog: lamankain Telugu: మాంసాహారి (te) (māṁsāhāri) Thai: สัตว์กินเนื้อ (th) (sàt-gin-nʉ́ʉa) Turkish: etobur (tr), etçil (tr) Welsh: cigysor m, cigysydd (cy) m Zazaki: gostwer

mammal of the order Carnivora

Catalan: carnívor (ca) m Czech: šelmy (cs) f pl Danish: rovdyr (da) n Dutch: roofdier (nl) n Finnish: petoeläin (fi) German: Fleischfresser (de) m Hebrew: טוֹרֵף‎ (he) m (toréf) Japanese: 食肉類 (ja) (しょくにくるい, shokunikurui) Swedish: rovdjur (sv) n Turkish: etçil (tr) Zazaki: gostger

person who is not a vegetarian

Dutch: vleeseter (nl) m German: Fleischesser (de) m, Fleischesserin (de) f Hebrew: בִּשְׂרוֹנִי‎ (he) m (bisroní)

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin carnivorus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.ni.vɔʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

carnivore (plural carnivores)

1. carnivorous (predatory or flesh-eating)

Noun

carnivore m (plural carnivores)

1. carnivore

See also

• herbivore
• insectivore
• omnivore

Further reading

• “carnivore”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /karˈni.vo.re/
• Rhymes: -ivore
• Hyphenation: car‧nì‧vo‧re

Adjective

carnivore

1. feminine plural of carnivoro

Noun

carnivore f

1. plural of carnivora

Anagrams

• converrai, incorreva

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Latin

Adjective

carnivore

1. vocative masculine singular of carnivorus