cannibal

C1 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkænɪbəl/ UK /ˈkænɪbəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #16367

Meanings

1

noun
a person who eats human flesh

The story portrays the isolated sailor as a cannibal, though the accusation is never proved.
2

noun
an animal or other organism that eats a member of its own species

A larger scorpion may become a cannibal and devour a smaller one.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who eats human flesh man-eateranthropophagus

2 noun · an animal or other organism... intraspecific predator

Word family

Forms cannibals

Derived forms cannibaliccannibalisecannibalishcannibalismcannibalisticcannibalitycannibalizationcanniballyendocannibalexocannibalnoncannibal

Related forms CaribCaribbean

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish canibal, an early variant of caribal derived from the name of the Carib people, ultimately from a Cariban form meaning 'person.' European reports associated that people with eating human flesh, and the ethnonym was generalized into the common noun. Carib and Caribbean are related forms.

Topics

People & Society

External links

# cannibal

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkænɪbəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkænɪbəl/
**Frequency rank:** 16367

## Meanings
1. a person who eats human flesh
2. an animal or other organism that eats a member of its own species

## Examples
- The story portrays the isolated sailor as a cannibal, though the accusation is never proved.
- A larger scorpion may become a cannibal and devour a smaller one.

## Synonyms
- man-eater
- anthropophagus

## Derived Forms
- cannibalic
- cannibalise
- cannibalish
- cannibalism
- cannibalistic
- cannibality
- cannibalization
- cannibally
- endocannibal
- exocannibal
- noncannibal

## Related Forms
- Carib
- Caribbean

## Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish canibal, an early variant of caribal derived from the name of the Carib people, ultimately from a Cariban form meaning 'person.' European reports associated that people with eating human flesh, and the ethnonym was generalized into the common noun. Carib and Caribbean are related forms.

## Topics
- People & Society

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