Anthropophagists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who engage in the act of eating flesh from human beings are categorized as cannibals
2. Those who partake in the consumption of other humans' meat are identified as man-eaters
3. Persons who consume the flesh of other human beings as a dietary practice

Etymology: "Anthropophagists" is the plural of "anthropophagist," a noun for someone who eats human flesh. The word is built from two Greek elements: "anthropos," meaning "human being," and "phagos," meaning "eating" or "eater," from the verb "phagein," "to eat." The Greek-derived combining form "anthropophagy," the practice itself, sits underneath, and the suffix "-ist" was added in English to name the person who practises it. Because the word was assembled from classical parts rather than inherited from an ancient text, the Greeks themselves did not use "anthropophagist" as such. Its elements, however, were familiar to classical writers, and the compound was formed in English by joining them to describe cannibals, a use the parts make transparent.