carnivore

See also: Carnivore

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French carnivore, from Latin carnivorus. In the zoological sense, coined by William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French carnivore.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑː.nɪ.vɔː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹ.nɪ.vɔɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkaː.nɪ.voː/

Noun

carnivore (plural carnivores)

1. An organism that feeds chiefly on animals; an animal that feeds on meat as the main part of its diet.

   Synonyms: meat-eater, zoophage

   As juveniles the crocodiles are frequently predated by larger carnivores.

2. (zoology) A mammal belonging to the order Carnivora.

   Synonym: carnivoran

   The panda and the panther are both carnivores.

3. (informal) A person who is not a vegetarian.

   Synonyms: meat-eater, meatarian, (often humorous) meatatarian, (now rare) kreophagist, nonvegetarian, (derogatory) bloodmouth

4. A follower of the carnivore diet (consuming only animal-based products, such as meat, eggs and dairy)

Usage notes

Not all meat-eaters (e.g. meat-eating birds and fish) belong to Carnivora, and not all Carnivora are meat-eaters (e.g. giant panda). To avoid the confusion, a new term carnivoran has been introduced to mean "belonging to Carnivora".

Derived terms

• carnivorism
• carnivorous
• carnivorousness
• carnivory
• facultative carnivore
• hypercarnivore
• hypocarnivore
• macrocarnivore
• mesocarnivore
• microcarnivore
• obligate carnivore

Related terms

• Carnivora
• carnivoran
• carnivorous
• folivore
• frugivore
• hemovore
• herbivore
• insectivore
• omnivore
• piscivore

Translations

meat-eating animal

• Afrikaans: karnivoor (af), vleiseter
• Arabic: لَاحِم m (lāḥim)
• Armenian: գիշատիչ (hy) (gišatičʻ), մսակեր կենդանի (msaker kendani)
• Breton: kigdebrer (br) m
• Bulgarian: месояден m (mesojaden)
• Burmese: အသားစား (my) du or c du (a.sa:ca:)
• Catalan: carnívor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食肉動物／食肉动物 (zh) (shíròu dòngwù)

• Czech: masožravec (cs) m
• Danish: kødæder (da), rovdyr (da) n
• Dutch: carnivoor (nl) m, vleeseter (nl) m
• Esperanto: karnomanĝulo, karnovorulo
• Estonian: lihasööja (et)
• Finnish: lihansyöjä (fi)
• French: carnivore (fr) m
• Galician: carnívoro (gl) m
• Georgian: ხორცისმჭამელი (xorcismč̣ameli), მტაცებელი (ka) (mṭacebeli), ხორცისმჭამელი ცხოველი (xorcismč̣ameli cxoveli), ხორცისმჭამელი ძუძუმწოვარი (xorcismč̣ameli ʒuʒumc̣ovari)
• German: Fleischfresser (de) m
• Greek: σαρκοφάγος (el) m (sarkofágos), σαρκοβόρος (el) m (sarkovóros)
• Greenlandic: neqituumasoq
• Hebrew: טוֹרֵף (he) m (toréf)
• Hungarian: húsevő (hu)
• Icelandic: kjötæta (is) f
• Indonesian: pemakan daging (id), karnivor (id)
• Ingrian: hiisnikka
• Italian: carnivoro (it) m
• Japanese: 肉食動物 (ja) (にくしょくどうぶつ, nikushoku dōbutsu)
• Khmer: មំសាសី (km) (meang sa sey)
• Korean: 육식 동물(肉食動物) (yuksik dongmul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: goştxur (ku)

• Latin: carnivora f
• Latvian: gaļēdājs m, gaļēdāja f
• Macedonian: месоја́дец m (mesojádec)
• Malay: binatang maging, haiwan maging, haiwan karnivor, karnivor
• Malayalam: മാംസഭുക്ക് (māṁsabhukkŭ)
• Maori: kaikiko
• Mongolian: махчин (mn) (maxčin)
• Navajo: naaldeehii daʼalghałígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjøtteter m

  Nynorsk: kjøtetar m

• Persian: گوشتخوار (fa) (guštxâr)
• Polish: mięsożerca (pl) m, drapieżnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: carnívoro (pt) m
• Russian: хи́щник (ru) m (xíščnik), плотоя́дное живо́тное n (plotojádnoje živótnoje), мясое́д (ru) m (mjasojéd) (literal, technical)
• Scottish Gaelic: feòil-itheadair m
• Serbo-Croatian: mesožder (sh), mesojedac, mesojed (sh),
• Slovak: mäsožravec m
• Slovene: mesojedec (sl) m, mesojed m, mesojedka f
• Spanish: carnívoro (es)
• Swahili: mla-nyama
• Swedish: köttätare (sv) c
• Tagalog: lamankain
• Telugu: మాంసాహారి (te) (māṁsāhāri)
• Thai: สัตว์กินเนื้อ (th) (sàt-gin-nʉ́ʉa)
• Turkish: etobur (tr), etçil (tr)
• Welsh: cigysor m, cigysydd (cy) m
• Zazaki: gostwer

mammal of the order Carnivora

• Catalan: carnívor (ca) m
• Czech: šelmy (cs) f pl
• Danish: rovdyr (da) n
• Dutch: roofdier (nl) n
• Finnish: petoeläin (fi)
• German: Fleischfresser (de) m
• Hebrew: טוֹרֵף (he) m (toréf)
• Japanese: 食肉類 (ja) (しょくにくるい, shokunikurui)
• Swedish: rovdjur (sv) n
• Turkish: etçil (tr)
• Zazaki: gostger

person who is not a vegetarian

• Dutch: vleeseter (nl) m
• German: Fleischesser (de) m, Fleischesserin (de) f
• Hebrew: בִּשְׂרוֹנִי (he) m (bisroní)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin carnivorus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.ni.vɔʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

carnivore (plural carnivores)

1. carnivorous (predatory or flesh-eating)

Noun

carnivore m (plural carnivores)

1. carnivore

See also

• herbivore
• insectivore
• omnivore

Further reading

• “carnivore”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /karˈni.vo.re/
• Rhymes: -ivore
• Hyphenation: car‧nì‧vo‧re

Adjective

carnivore

1. feminine plural of carnivoro

Noun

carnivore f

1. plural of carnivora

Anagrams

• converrai, incorreva

Latin

Adjective

carnivore

1. vocative masculine singular of carnivorus