cannibal

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish caníbal, from Taíno caniba, the Taíno form recorded by Christopher Columbus for the Caribs, who were greatly feared. From an Arawakan language, probably Taíno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkænɪbəl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænɪbəl

Noun

cannibal (plural cannibals)

1. An organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who eats human flesh.
   • 1845, Journal of Researches Into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World, page 204:

     These insects were not uncommon beneath stones. I found one cannibal scorpion quietly devouring another.

   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     Up the cave I went, and after me came the others, and after them thundered the whole crowd of cannibals, mad with fury at the death of the woman.

   • 1908, James William Tutt, A natural history of the British Lepidoptera: a text-book for students and collectors, page 65:

     [...] that the larvae of Thecla calanus is a cannibal, eating its weaker brethren when short of food.

   • 1995, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear, People of the Lakes, Macmillan (→ISBN):

     His expression slack, Green Spider methodically pried out another clod and swallowed it. “I'm a cannibal. Eating the Earth Mother. Chewing the flesh from her bones. Cannibal ... cannibal ... cannibal!” Otter tried to shake off his discomfort, ...

Synonyms

• man-eater
• anthropophagus

Related terms

• cannibalise
• cannibalism
• cannibalistic

Translations

an organism which eats others of its own species

• Arabic: غُول‎ (ar) f (ḡūl)
• Armenian: մարդակեր (hy) (mardaker) (eating humans)
• Belarusian: каніба́л m (kanibál), людажэ́рца m (ljudažérca), людае́д m (ljudajéd)
• Bengali: রাক্ষস (rakkhôś)
• Bulgarian: канибал (bg) m (kanibal)
• Catalan: caníbal (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食人者 (shí rén zhě), 吃同类的生物 (chī tóng lèi de shēngwù)

• Czech: kanibal (cs) m, lidožrout (cs) m (eating humans), lidojed m (eating humans)
• Danish: kannibal (da) c
• Dutch: kannibaal (nl)
• Esperanto: (♂♀) kanibalo, (♂) kanibaliĉo, (♀) kanibalino, samspecimanĝulo
• Estonian: kannibal (et)
• Finnish: kannibaali (fi), ihmissyöjä
• French: cannibale (fr) m or f
• Friulian: canibal m
• Galician: caníbal m or f
• German: Kannibale (de) m, (female) Kannibalin (de) f
• Greek: κανίβαλος (el) m or f (kanívalos)

  Ancient: ἀνθρωποφάγος (anthrōpophágos)

• Greenlandic: inuttuumasoq
• Hebrew: קניבל‎ (he) m (kanibál)
• Hindi: आदमखोर (hi) m (ādamkhor), मानवभक्षी m (mānavbhakṣī), नरभक्षी (hi) m (narbhakṣī)
• Hungarian: kannibál (hu)
• Icelandic: (human cannibal) mannæta (is) f
• Ido: (♂♀) kanibalo (io), (♂) kanibalulo, (♀) kanibalino
• Indonesian: kanibal (id)

• Irish: canablach m
• Italian: cannibale (it) m or f, antropofago (it) m
• Japanese: 人食い人種 (hitokuijinshu)
• Korean: 식인종 (ko) (siginjong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خۆخۆر‎ (xoxor)

• Latin: anthrōpophagus (la) m (eating humans), ^{(please verify)} canibalus m
• Macedonian: канибал m (kanibal)
• Malay: kanibal
• Manx: canniblagh m
• Maori: kaitangata
• Norman: cannibale m or f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kannibal (no) m

  Nynorsk: kannibal m

• Old English: selfǣta m
• Persian: همگون خوار‎ (fa) (hamgûn xâr), آدمخوار‎ (fa) (âdamxâr)
• Polish: kanibal (pl) m, (human cannibal) ludożerca (pl) m
• Portuguese: canibal (pt)
• Romanian: canibal (ro) m, canibală (ro) f
• Russian: канниба́л (ru) m (kannibál), людое́д (ru) m (ljudojéd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: људо̀ждер m, ка̀нибал m

  Roman: ljudòžder (sh) m, kànibal (sh) m

• Spanish: caníbal (es) m or f
• Swedish: kannibal (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaing-kapuwa
• Telugu: మానవాశనుడు (te) (mānavāśanuḍu)
• Turkish: yamyam (tr)
• Ukrainian: каніба́л m (kanibál), людоже́р m (ljudožér), людої́д m (ljudojíd)
• Urdu: آدَمْ خور‎ (ur) m (ādam xōr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) kaniban (vo), (♂) hikaniban, (♀) jikaniban