Mycophagists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Organisms or individuals that feed on fungi as a primary source of nutrition
2. creatures or entities that engage in the consumption of mushrooms and similar fungal entities
3. a term for those who specialize in the dietary habits centered around fungi, including various species in nature

Etymology: Mycophagists is a plural noun formed from "mycophagy", the eating of fungi. The root is Greek: "mykes" meant "fungus" or "mushroom", and "phagos" meant "eating", the same element that appears in "phagocyte" and "anthropophagy". The formation follows the pattern of "-phagist" words, which name people or animals by their habitual diet, such as "ichthyophagist" for a fish-eater. Because the Greek roots were combined into modern scientific-style coinages, the word belongs to the vocabulary of naturalists and writers rather than everyday speech.

Synonyms: fungus eaters