Eaters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Beings that absorb or ingest food for the purpose of sustaining their bodily functions
2. Organisms that consume substances to derive nourishment and energy for growth and maintenance
3. Entities that take in food items for the purpose of survival and metabolic processes

Etymology: "Eaters" is simply the plural of "eater," so the word is one of the plainest in English: a verb with a suffix attached. The noun comes from Old English "etere," which was built from the verb "eat" plus the suffix "-er," the same ending that turns "bake" into "baker" or "read" into "reader." Middle English later shortened the form to "eter," "etere," and "etter" before the spelling settled. The suffix did real work in that history. It could mark a person or thing that performs an action, which is how "eater" first described someone who consumes food. The source also notes a second use of the same ending, marking the thing being acted upon, so an "eater" could be food that is suitable for eating, such as a particular variety of apple or potato. The biological sense in your definition, applied to organisms that take in nutrients, is a modern extension of that older general meaning.

Synonyms: consumers, diners