Entomophagist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who regularly eats insects as food, often for cultural, nutritional or environmental reasons
2. Someone whose diet includes insects, either by custom, by choice, or as a matter of practical sustenance
3. An individual who consumes bugs and other arthropods as part of their everyday eating habits

Etymology: Entomophagist is a modern formation built from Greek roots, not an ancient word. "Entomo-" comes from Greek "entomon", meaning "insect" (literally "cut into pieces", from "entomos", cut up, since insects have segmented bodies), and "-phagist" comes from Greek "phagos", "eating", with the agent suffix "-ist" for a person who does something. Put together, the word names someone who eats insects. Because it is a learned coinage from classical elements, the ancient Greeks would not have recognised it as a term for anything. Scholars and writers assembled it in the same way as other scientific and anthropological vocabulary, so its meaning is transparent: each part can be read off directly. The related noun "entomophagy", the practice itself, is formed the same way, with "-phagy" in place of "-phagist".

Synonyms: entomophage