Standard Lemma guide

herbivore

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈhɜːbɪvɔː(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈ(h)ɜːɹbɪvɔːɹ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH ER1 B IH0 V AO2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: ER1 B IH0 V AO2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An organism that feeds chiefly on plants; an animal that feeds on herbage or vegetation as the main part of its diet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • horses are herbivores
  • the sauropod dinosaurs were apparently herbivores

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna

History

Etymology

From French herbivore, from Latin herbivorus. By surface analysis, herb (“herbage”) + -i- + -vore.

Across languages

Translations

75 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: herbivoor — plant-eating organism
  • Afrikaans: planteter — plant-eating organism
  • Arabic: حَيَوَان عَاشِب (ḥayawān ʕāšib) — plant-eating organism
  • Armenian: խոտակեր (xotaker) — plant-eating organism
  • Basque: belarjale — plant-eating organism
  • Breton: geotdebrer — plant-eating organism
  • Bulgarian: тревопасно животно (trevopasno životno) — plant-eating organism
  • Catalan: herbívor — plant-eating organism
  • Chinese Mandarin: 食草動物 /食草动物 (shícǎo dòngwù) — plant-eating organism
  • Chinese Mandarin: 植食性動物 /植食性动物 (zhíshíxìngdòngwù) — plant-eating organism
  • Czech: býložravec — plant-eating organism
  • Danish: planteæder — plant-eating organism
  • Dutch: herbivoor — plant-eating organism
  • Dutch: planteneter — plant-eating organism
  • Esperanto: herbovorulo — plant-eating organism
  • Finnish: kasvinsyöjä — plant-eating organism
  • French: herbivore — plant-eating organism
  • Galician: herbívoro — plant-eating organism
  • Georgian: ბალახიჭამია (balaxič̣amia) — plant-eating organism
  • Georgian: ბალახისმჭამელი ცხოველები (balaxismč̣ameli cxovelebi) — plant-eating organism
  • German: Pflanzenfresser — plant-eating organism
  • Greek: φυτοφάγος (fytofágos) — plant-eating organism
  • Ancient Greek: βοτόν (botón) — plant-eating organism
  • Hebrew: אוכל צמחים (okhél tsmakhím) — plant-eating organism
  • Hindi: शाकाहारी (śākāhārī) — plant-eating organism
  • Hungarian: növényevő — plant-eating organism
  • Ido: herbivoro — plant-eating organism
  • Indonesian: herbivor — plant-eating organism
  • Ingrian: kasvonsööjä — plant-eating organism
  • Italian: erbivoro — plant-eating organism
  • Japanese: 草食動物 (sōshoku dōbutsu) — plant-eating organism
  • Kannada: ಸಸ್ಯಾಹಾರಿ (sasyāhāri) — plant-eating organism
  • Kazakh: шөпқоректі жануар (şöpqorektı januar) — plant-eating organism
  • Khmer: តិណាសី (teh na sei) — plant-eating organism
  • Korean: 초식동물 (chosikdongmul) — plant-eating organism
  • Northern Kurdish: giyaxwer — plant-eating organism
  • Lithuanian: žolėdis — plant-eating organism
  • Lithuanian: augalėdis — plant-eating organism
  • Macedonian: тревоја́дец (trevojádec) — plant-eating organism
  • Macedonian: тревопа́сно жи́вотно (trevopásno žívotno) — plant-eating organism
  • Malay: binatang maun — plant-eating organism
  • Malay: haiwan maun — plant-eating organism
  • Malay: haiwan herbivor — plant-eating organism
  • Malay: herbivor — plant-eating organism
  • Malayalam: സസ്യഭുക്ക് (sasyabhukkŭ) — plant-eating organism
  • Māori: kaiota — plant-eating organism
  • Mongolian: өвсөн тэжээлтэн (övsön težeelten) — plant-eating organism
  • Norwegian Bokmål: planteeter — plant-eating organism
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: planteetar — plant-eating organism
  • Old English: wyrtǣta — plant-eating organism
  • Persian: گیاهخوار (giyâhxvâr) — plant-eating organism
  • Polish: roślinożerca — plant-eating organism
  • Portuguese: herbívoro — plant-eating organism
  • Romanian: erbivor — plant-eating organism
  • Russian: травоя́дное живо́тное (travojádnoje živótnoje) — plant-eating organism
  • Russian: фитофа́г (fitofág) — plant-eating organism
  • Scottish Gaelic: lus-itheadair — plant-eating organism
  • Serbo-Croatian: би̏љоје̄д — plant-eating organism
  • Serbo-Croatian: би̏љождер — plant-eating organism
  • Serbo-Croatian: bȉljojēd — plant-eating organism
  • Serbo-Croatian: bȉljožder — plant-eating organism
  • Serbo-Croatian: biljojedac — plant-eating organism
  • Slovak: bylinožravec — plant-eating organism
  • Slovene: rastlinojedec — plant-eating organism
  • Slovene: rastlinojed — plant-eating organism
  • Spanish: herbívoro — plant-eating organism
  • Swahili: mla-mimea — plant-eating organism
  • Swedish: växtätare — plant-eating organism
  • Tagalog: halmankain — plant-eating organism
  • Tagalog: erbiboro — plant-eating organism
  • Thai: สัตว์กินพืช (sàt-gin-pʉ̂ʉt) — plant-eating organism
  • Vietnamese: động vật ăn cỏ — plant-eating organism
  • Vietnamese: động vật ăn thực vật — plant-eating organism
  • Welsh: llysysor — plant-eating organism
  • Welsh: llysysydd — plant-eating organism