herbivore

C2+ Topic:Animals

US /ˈhɜːrbəˌvɔːr/ UK /ˈhɜːbɪˌvɔː/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an animal that feeds on plants

As a herbivore, the deer grazed quietly at the forest's edge.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an animal that feeds on plants plant-eatergrazerbrowser

Opposites

carnivore predatormeat-eater

Word family

Derived forms herbivorousherbivory

Related forms herb carnivoreomnivore

Etymology

From Latin herba ('grass, herb') + -vorus (from vorare 'to devour'), via the modern scientific Latin herbivora.

herba Latin vorare Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# herbivore

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɜːrbəˌvɔːr/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɜːbɪˌvɔː/

## Meanings
1. an animal that feeds on plants

## Examples
- As a herbivore, the deer grazed quietly at the forest's edge.

## Synonyms
- plant-eater
- grazer
- browser

## Antonyms
- carnivore
- predator
- meat-eater

## Derived Forms
- herbivorous
- herbivory

## Related Forms
- herb
- carnivore
- omnivore

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: herba
- Root: vorare

## Etymology
From Latin herba ('grass, herb') + -vorus (from vorare 'to devour'), via the modern scientific Latin herbivora.

## AI Etymology
herbivore comes from Latin herba ('grass, herb') + -vorus (from vorare 'to devour'), via the modern scientific Latin herbivora. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the noun sense is "an animal that feeds on plants", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as herb, carnivore, and omnivore, and in derivatives such as herbivorous and herbivory. Its semantic neighborhood includes plant-eater, grazer, and browser, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin herba and Latin vorare.

## Topics
- Animals

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