cannibal
n. countablen. a person who eats the flesh of other humans, or an animal that eats its own kind.
n. an individual that consumes the flesh of its own species. Often used metaphorically in business to describe a product that reduces the sales of a company's own existing products.
The movie tells a scary story about a cannibal living in the woods.
Biologists observed that certain species of spiders act as cannibals when food sources become extremely scarce in their habitat.
The explorer's journals contained sensationalized and likely fabricated accounts of meeting cannibals, reflecting the colonial prejudices of the era rather than anthropological reality.
Etymology tree Proto-Cariban *kariponader. Spanish caribeder. Spanish caríbalder. Spanish caníbalbor. English cannibal Borrowed from Spanish caníbal, from Taíno caniba, the Taíno form recorded by Christopher Columbus for the Caribs, who were greatly feared. From an Arawak language, probably Taíno, and ultimately from Proto-Cariban *karipona (“person”). Doublet of Carib, caribe, Garifuna, Carijona, Kari'na, and Caribbean.
Typically refers to humans in a literal sense, but can apply to any organism in a biological context.