Detritivore
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An organism that feeds on detritus; a detrivore, a saprophage.
"Termites are herbivores and detritivores variously involved in the comminution and decomposition of vegetable matter, through most of the warm temperate and tropical zones."
Example
More examples"Termites are herbivores and detritivores variously involved in the comminution and decomposition of vegetable matter, through most of the warm temperate and tropical zones."
Etymology
From German Detritivore, from Latin dētrītus (“the act of rubbing away”) (from dēterō (“to rub away, to rub off, to wear out”), from dē- (“away; down”) + terō (“to rub; to wear away, to wear out”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, to rub by twisting; to twist, to turn”)) + Latin vorāre (from vorō (“to devour, to eat greedily; to swallow up”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour”)). Analyzable as detritus + -i- + -vore.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.