cannibal
/ˈkænɪbəl/
cannibal noun: an organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who consumes human flesh. Also the ellipsis of cannibal boat.
Noun
cannibal (plural cannibals)
- An organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who consumes human flesh.
- These insects were not uncommon beneath stones. I found one cannibal scorpion quietly devouring another.1845, Journal of Researches Into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World, page 204
- Up the cave I went, and after me came the others, and after them thundered the whole crowd of cannibals, mad with fury at the death of the woman.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- anthropophagus, man-eater
Also used as
cannibal is also the ellipsis of cannibal boat.
cannibal meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
cannibal in Hindi
- an organism which eats others of its own species
- नरभक्षी narbhakṣī, नरभक्षक narbhakṣak, मानवभक्षी mānavbhakṣī, आदमखोर ādamkhor, आदमख़ोर ādamxor
cannibal in Marathi
- नरभक्षी, नरभक्षक
cannibal in Urdu
- an organism which eats others of its own species
- آدَمْ خور ādam xor
cannibal in Bengali
- an organism which eats others of its own species
- রাক্ষস rakkhoś
More languagesFewer languages
- cannibal in Telugu
- మానవాశనుడు mānavāśanuḍu
- cannibal in Kannada
- ನರಭಕ್ಷಕ
- cannibal in Punjabi
- ਨਰਭੱਖੀ, ਨਰਭੱਖ
- cannibal in Odia
- ନରଭକ୍ଷୀ, ନରଖାଦକ
- cannibal in Nepali
- नरभक्षी, नरखादक, नरभक्षक
- cannibal in Tagalog
- kaing-kapuwa
- cannibal in Arabic
- غُول ḡūl, آكِلُ لُحُوم البَشْر ʔākilu luḥūm al-bašr
- cannibal in Malay
- kanibal
- cannibal in Indonesian
- kanibal
- Dhivehi
- މިނިކާ minikā
Examples of cannibal in a sentence
- […] that the larvae of Thecla calanus is a cannibal, eating its weaker brethren when short of food.1908, James William Tutt, A natural history of the British Lepidoptera: a text-book for students and collectors, page 65:
- He found that they were not cannibals—that they looked with loathing and contempt upon men who ate men.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 127:
- Cannibal ... cannibal ... cannibal!” Otter tried to shake off his discomfort, […]1995, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear, People of the Lakes, Macmillan, →ISBN:
- Both authors quote Paul Graham[…]: “You could parachute him [Sam Altman] into an island full of cannibals and come back in five years and he'd be the king.”2025 May 24, Richard Waters, quoting Paul Graham, “AI’s flawed frontman”, in FT Weekend (Books section), London: The Financial Times Ltd....
Synonyms of cannibal
Forms of cannibal
| plural | cannibals |
|---|
Origin of 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.
Words formed from cannibal
Phrases with cannibal
Questions about cannibal
- What does cannibal mean?
- Cannibal means an organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who consumes human flesh.
- What is cannibal in Hindi?
- Cannibal in Hindi is नरभक्षी (narbhakṣī), नरभक्षक (narbhakṣak), मानवभक्षी (mānavbhakṣī). See Cannibal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cannibal in a sentence?
- […] that the larvae of Thecla calanus is a cannibal, eating its weaker brethren when short of food.
- What part of speech is cannibal?
- Cannibal is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cannibal?
- Cannibal is pronounced /ˈkænɪbəl/.
- What is the plural of cannibal?
- The plural of cannibal is cannibals.
Words near cannibal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cannibal (page history and authors); cannibal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cannibal (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cannibal (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cannibal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cannibal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cannibal.wav.
Cite this entry: “cannibal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cannibal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.