Ichthyophagists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who consume fish as a primary source of sustenance
2. People who specifically engage in the eating of aquatic creatures for nourishment
3. Practitioners of a diet that heavily features fish and other marine life as their main food source

Etymology: "Ichthyophagists" is the plural of "ichthyophagist," and the word is built from two Greek elements. The first, "ichthys," means "fish," and the second, "phagos," means "eating" or "eater." Put together, "ichthyophagous" describes a fish-eating animal or people, and "ichthyophagist" names someone who practises that diet, with the English suffix "-ist" marking a person who follows a particular practice. The "-ous" in "ichthyophagous" and the "-ist" in "ichthyophagist" show how English adapts a Greek compound into a set of related terms: one adjective for the diet and one noun for the people who keep it. The pattern is shared with other terms built on "-phagous" and "-phagy," such as "herbivorous" and "omnivorous," which use Latin rather than Greek roots for the same idea of eating a certain kind of food.