Standard Lemma guide

coprophagy

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act or an instance of eating feces.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: scatophagy

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

eating feces; in human a symptom of some kinds of insanity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coprophagia

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: eating, feeding

History

Etymology

Etymology tree 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”).

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: coprofàgia — the eating of feces
  • Chinese Mandarin: 食糞性 /食粪性 (shífènxìng) — the eating of feces
  • Chinese Mandarin: 食糞症 /食粪症 (shífènzhèng) — the eating of feces
  • Dutch: coprofagie — the eating of feces
  • Finnish: koprofagia — the eating of feces
  • French: coprophagie — the eating of feces
  • Indonesian: koprofagia — the eating of feces
  • Japanese: 食糞 (shokufun) — the eating of feces
  • Korean: 식분증 (sikbunjeung) — the eating of feces
  • Persian: مدفوعخواری (madfu'-xâri) — the eating of feces
  • Polish: koprofagia — the eating of feces
  • Portuguese: coprofagia — the eating of feces
  • Serbo-Croatian: копрофа̀гија — the eating of feces
  • Serbo-Croatian: koprofàgija — the eating of feces
  • Spanish: coprofagia — the eating of feces
  • Swedish: koprofagi — the eating of feces
  • Turkish: koprofagi — the eating of feces
  • Turkish: dışkı yeme — the eating of feces
  • Vietnamese: động vật ăn phân — the eating of feces