Animalivorous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Feeding on or consuming animals as a primary source of nutrition
2. Feeding predominantly on animals for nutritional needs
3. Obtaining nourishment mainly by eating animals rather than plants

Etymology: "Animalivorous" is a plain formation built from two parts: "animal," borrowed into English from Latin "animal" (a living creature, from "anima," breath or soul), and "-vorous," from Latin "vorare," to devour. The two are joined by a linking "-i-," the vowel Latin used when it fused a noun stem to a verb-derived element. The result says exactly what it means: an animal-eating creature. The pattern is a familiar one. English has long built adjectives ending in "-vorous" from Latin roots, so "carnivorous" (flesh-eating) and "herbivorous" (plant-eating) sit in the same family. "Animalivorous" is the less common cousin, used to describe organisms whose diet consists mainly of other animals, where "carnivorous" might otherwise be taken to mean meat in a broader or more general sense.