Monophagy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The eating habit defined by subsisting exclusively on one particular food type is known for its simplicity and specificity
2. This approach to nutrition is characterized by consuming only a singular food source, often leading to a distinctive diet
3. A dietary practice where only a single kind of food is consumed without variation

Etymology: Monophagy is a plain construction: "mono-", from the Greek "monos" meaning "single" or "alone", joined to "-phagy", from the Greek "phagein", "to eat." The Greek compound "monophagía" already existed in ancient usage, and its literal sense was "eating alone" rather than eating one kind of food. That sense is worth keeping in mind, because the modern meaning has shifted toward the idea of restricting oneself to a single food. The English word follows the same pattern as other scientific-style coinages built from Greek parts, such as "anthropophagy" (eating human flesh) and "geophagy" (eating earth or soil). Its exact date of entry into English is not something this account can confirm, but the formation makes its purpose clear: it names a dietary practice by combining the Greek elements for "one" and "eating."