Cannibal

//ˈkænɪbəl// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An organism which eats others of its own or similar species or kind, especially a human or other human-like creature such as a zombie who consumes human flesh.

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

  2. 2
    a person who eats human flesh wordnet
  3. 3
    Ellipsis of cannibal boat. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, obsolete, slang

Synonyms

All synonyms
anthropophagusman-eateramphibiananimalanthropophagiteanthropophagite

Example

More examples

"Is it a progress if a cannibal is using a knife and fork?"

Etymology

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.

Related phrases

cannibal sandwichmissionaries and cannibals problem

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.