Phagy Words: “Echidnophaga” to “lithophage”
Part 2 of 4
Words that include: phago-, phag-, -phage, -phagi,
-phagic, -phagically, -phagia, -phagism, -phagist, -phagic,
-phagous, -phag (Greek: eat, eating, consume, ingest)
If you would like to take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section, then click
Phagy-Quiz which is located at the end of this set of definitions so you can see how much you know about these
“phagy” words.
Echidnophaga:
Spiny ant eater.
ectoophagous, ectoophage, ectoophagy:
A reference to insect larvae that hatch from eggs deposited on or near a supply of host eggs that they eat.
ectophagous, ectophage, ectophagy:
Eating the outside of a food source as opposed to endophagous.
endoophage, endoophagous, endoophagy:
A reference to insect larvae that hatch from eggs deposited within host eggs and feed upon the contents of those eggs.
endophage, endophagous, endophagy:
Feeding from within the food source.
entomophagous, entomophage, entomophagy:
Eating insects; insectivorous.
erythrophagous, erythrophage, erythrophagy:
Phagocytic destruction of red blood cells.
esophagus:
1. The passage down which food moves between the throat and the stomach.
2. In medicine, the musculomembranous passage extending from the pharynx to the stomach.
euphagia:
A normal and proper manner of eating.
euryphagous, euryphage, euryphagy:
1. Eating a wide variety of foods.
2. A description of organisms that feed on a variety of different things.
3. Utilizing or tolerant of a wide variety of foods or food species.
4. An antonym is stenophagous.
exophagy:
Cannibalism outside the tribe.
fuciphagous, fuciphage, fuciphagy:
Feeding on seaweed.
galactophage, galactophagia, galactophagous, galactophagy:
1. Subsisting on a milk diet or living on milk products only; milkfed.
2. A behavioral anomaly in which animals suck other than their own natural or foster mother.
galliphage, galliphagous, galliphagy:
Feeding on galls (swollen or abnormal growths found in plants typically produced in response to microbial or fungal infection, or to attack by insects, mites, and other invertebrates).
geophagist:
One who feeds on soil or earth; such as, clay.
geophagous, geophage, geophagy:
1. Feeding on soil; deriving nutrients from soil or the sediment.
2. Ingestion of earthy substances like clay; as a result of starvation, lack of something in the diet, or possibly as a result of mental illness.
haematophagous, hematophagous; haematophagia,
hematophagia; haematophagy, hematophagy, hemophagia:
1. Blood drinking.
2. The act of subsisting on the blood of another animal.
An example of those who use blood for subsistence are the Masai [Maasai] people who live in East Africa, mainly in Kenya and Tanzania. Characteristically tall and slender, the Masai are a pastoral people who subsist on a mixture of blood and milk. The blood is drawn from a cow’s neck without killing the animal, then mixed with milk and consumed.
haliphagous, haliphage, haliphagy:
Ingestion of an excessive quantity of a salt or salts, especially of sodium chloride, calcium, magnesium, potassium salts, or of sodium bicarbonate.
harpactophagous, harpactophage, harpactophagy:
Feeding by preying on other animals; predatory, used especially with reference to insects. From Greek harpago-, harpag-, meaning “a hook for seizing; a robbery, rape, seizure, plunder”.
heterophagism, heterophagous, heterophagy:
Digestion within a cell of an exogenous substance phagocytosed from the cell’s environment.
hippophagism, hippophagous, hippophagy:
The practice of eating horseflesh; such as, the French and Belgians in Europe.
hippophagist:
One who eats the meat of horses.
histophagous:
Eating or subsisting on tissues; such as, certain protozoa, especially those ciliates, ectoparasitic or endoparasitic, in or on nonvital tissues of their hosts.
hyalophagia, hyalophagy:
The eating or chewing of glass.
hydradephagous:
Belonging to the Hydradephaga or aquatic carnivorous beetles.
hylophagous, hylophage, hylophagy:
Feeding on wood; such as, termites.
hyperphagia:
The ingestion of a greater than optimal quantity of food; over eating; gluttony.
ichthyophagous, ichthyophage, ichthyophagy:
The eating of fish; piscivorous.
larviphagic, larviphagy:
Feeding on larvae.
lignophage, lignophagic, lignophagy, lignophage:
An abnormal chewing and eating of wood, seen in horses in restrictive quarters.
limophage, limophagic, limophagy, limophage:
Feeding on mud.
lipophage, lipophagic, lipophagia, lipophagy:
1. A cell (lipophage) that ingests or absorbs fat.
2. The absorption of fat; lipolysis.
lithophage, lithophagous, lithophagy:
1. Usually a reference to organisms that erode or bore into rocks.
2. Eating small stones, as with some birds.
You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by just clicking on
Phagy Quiz #2 to check your word knowledge for this section.