Sanguivore

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A creature that survives by consuming the blood of other living beings, such as a vampire in folklore or a blood-feeding animal
2. An organism that lives by drinking blood from its hosts, a term often applied to mythical vampires or certain parasitic animals
3. Any being that subsists on blood, a label used for legendary bloodsucking monsters and for creatures that feed on the blood of others

Etymology: "Sanguivore" is a plain compound built from two parts: "sangui-", a combining form of the Latin "sanguis", meaning blood, and "-vore", from the Latin "vorare", to devour or swallow whole. Put together, the word describes any creature that feeds on blood, whether a bat, a leech, or a mosquito. The "-vore" element has a more intricate history than its Latin source suggests. It comes from Latin "-vorus", the adjectival ending used by Latin writers to mean "devouring" or "eating", as in "carnivorus" for flesh-eating. English adopted this ending as a combining form, so it could be attached to new stems, which is why scientists could freely coin words like "herbivore" and "omnivore" from it. "Sanguivore" follows that same pattern, joining a Latin stem for blood to the "-vore" ending. Because the word is a modern coinage assembled from classical building blocks, it is best understood as a technical formation rather than an ancient word. Its parts are transparent, so a reader can work out its meaning without a dictionary.

Synonyms: bloodsucker, vampire