Saprophagy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of deriving sustenance from decomposing organic substances refers to a unique nutritional strategy employed by specific organisms that feed on dead matter for nourishment
2. This feeding behavior characterizes certain species that obtain their energy and nutrients by consuming decayed biological material
3. The process of obtaining nutrition by consuming decomposing plant or animal material

Etymology: "Saprophagy" is a plain scientific compound, built in two pieces from ancient Greek. The first part, "sapro-", comes from Greek "sapros", meaning "putrid" or "rotten", the same root that gives English words like "saprophyte," a plant or fungus living on dead matter. The second part, "-phagy", comes from Greek "phagein", "to eat" or "to consume," which also gives us "esophagus" and "anthropophagy," the eating of human flesh. Put together, the word describes the feeding habit of organisms that consume decaying organic material. Because the compound is assembled from classical roots, it is a modern coinage, formed by scientists who needed a precise term for this way of life. Ancient Greeks had the building blocks but never used this combination, so the word belongs to the vocabulary of biology rather than to classical usage.