Cannibalism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkanɪbəlɪz(ə)m/

Definitions

1. The practice of consuming the flesh of one's own species
2. The act of one individual eating the flesh of another member of the same species encompasses both survival and ritualistic motives
3. This behavior involves consuming the meat of one’s own kind for either sustenance or cultural reasons

Etymology: The word "cannibal" comes from Spanish "caníbal," which was itself a version of "caríbal," and that in turn traces back to "caribe," the name Columbus's contemporaries used for the Carib people of the Caribbean. Their name is related to the Proto-Cariban root "*kariponа," meaning "brave" or "strong." So the word for human-eating was built on the name of a people, who were often falsely accused of this practice by European colonizers. Later, "cannibal" passed into English, and the suffix "-ism," borrowed through Latin and Greek, was added to form the noun for the practice itself. The suffix "-ism" comes from Ancient Greek "-ismos," used to form nouns of action, state, or doctrine. English attached it to "cannibal" to name the act or custom of eating one's own kind, giving the word a formal, abstract quality compared with the older, more concrete term.

Synonyms: anthropophagy, man-eating, devouring, flesh-eating, predation