Also ‑vora and ‑vorous.
An organism living on a given type of food.
Latin ‑vorus, from vorare, to devour.
Examples include carnivore (Latin caro, carn‑, flesh), a flesh-eating animal; herbivore (Latin herba, herb, green vegetation), an animal that eats plants; and omnivore (Latin omnis, all), an animal or person that eats a variety of food of both plant and animal origin.
The associated ending ‑vorous (see ‑ous) supplies adjectives: carnivorous; insectivorous, feeding on insects; nectarivorous, feeding on nectar.
The suffix ‑vora appears in the names of animal classifications: Carnivora is an order of flesh-eating mammals that includes the cats, dogs, and hyenas; Insectivora is an order of small mammals that live on insects, such as the shrews, moles, and hedgehogs.
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