Word.ws English Dictionary

adelphophagy

adelphophagy noun: the consumption of one embryo by another in utero, particularly among certain amphibians, sharks and fishes.

Noun

adelphophagy (uncountable)

  1. The consumption of one embryo by another in utero, particularly among certain amphibians, sharks and fishes.
    Synonyms:
    embryophagy, oophagy

Synonyms of adelphophagy

Origin of adelphophagy

From Ancient Greek ἀδελφός (adelphós, “brother”) and the suffix -φαγία (-phagía), combining form of φαγεῖν (phageîn, “to eat”). By surface analysis, adelpho- + -phagy.

Questions about adelphophagy

What does adelphophagy mean?
Adelphophagy means the consumption of one embryo by another in utero, particularly among certain amphibians, sharks and fishes.
What part of speech is adelphophagy?
Adelphophagy is a noun.

Words near adelphophagy in the dictionary

  1. adelphoparasite
  2. adelphoparasitism
  3. adelphophage
  4. adelphophages
  5. adelphophagic
  6. adelphophagy
  7. adelphopoiesis
  8. adelphopoiia
  9. adelphotaxa
  10. adelphotaxon
  11. adelphotaxy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: adelphophagy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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