Pantophagic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing an animal or person that eats a wide variety of foods, including both plants and flesh, without restriction
2. Relating to a creature whose diet takes in virtually anything available, omnivorous in the broadest sense
3. Characterizing a feeding habit that consumes all sorts of food indiscriminately, taking whatever is at hand

Etymology: "Pantophagic" is built from two Greek elements. The first, "panto-", comes from "pas" (genitive "pantos"), meaning "all" or "every", and the second, "-phagous", comes from "phagos", meaning "eating" or "devouring," which is the root behind "phagocyte" and "anthropophagy." Put together, the term describes an animal or person that eats everything. The word is a straightforward compound of ancient Greek parts, so it is best understood as a modern coinage that assembles those classical pieces into a new technical sense rather than a word the Greeks themselves used. The adjective "pantophagic" is a synonym of "pantophagous," meaning the two forms are interchangeable in use. Both share the same construction, with "-ic" and "-ous" serving as alternative English adjective endings on the same Greek stem.

Synonyms: omnivorous, pantophagous