Dictionary

coprophagy en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *ḱókʷr̥ Proto-Indo-European *ḱókʷ-ro-sder. Ancient Greek κόπρος (kópros) English copro- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂g-der. Ancient Greek ἔφᾰγον (éphăgon) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek -φᾰγίᾱ (-phăgíā)lbor. English -phagy English coprophagy From copro- (“excrement”) + -phagy (“to feed on”).

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The act or an instance of eating feces.
   • Other studies postulate that dogs practice coprophagy in an attempt to conserve digestive enzymes, in particular protelytic enzymes and amylase (McCuistion, 1966). 1989, Nutrition and Management of Dogs and Cats, page 38:
   • In Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre (2003), Kosky previewed the apocalypse in a blitz of surreal images that made coprophagy, as he puts it, look "gorgeous". 2010, Peter Conrad, The Monthly, April 2010, Issue 55, The Monthly Ptd Ltd, page 52
   • We use "coprophagy" as the simplest available general term to describe ingestion of the feces, without any implication of cause, circumstances, or the origin or nature of fecal material consumed. 1980, G. J. Kenagy, D. F. Hoyt, “Reingestion of Feces in Rodents and Its Daily Rhythmicity”, in Oecologia, volume 44, number 3, page 403:

Forms

Relateds

reingestion · coprophagan · coprophagic · coprophagist · autocoprophagy · caecotrophy · proctophagy · allocoprophagy · coprophagous

Synonyms

scatophagy

Translations (19)

pt coprofagia (the eating of feces) · fr coprophagie (the eating of feces) · fa مدفوعخواری (the eating of feces) · vi động vật ăn phân (the eating of feces) · cmn 食糞症 /食粪症 (the eating of feces) · fi koprofagia (the eating of feces) · ca coprofàgia (the eating of feces) · tr koprofagi (the eating of feces) · ja 食糞 (the eating of feces) · sv koprofagi (the eating of feces) · es coprofagia (the eating of feces) · sh koprofàgija (the eating of feces) · id koprofagia (the eating of feces) · ko 식분증 (the eating of feces) · pl koprofagia (the eating of feces) · tr dışkı yeme (the eating of feces) · sh копрофа̀гија (the eating of feces) · cmn 食糞性 /食粪性 (the eating of feces) · nl coprofagie (the eating of feces)