Etymology

polyphagy

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Today it means: The ability of an animal to eat a variety of food (e.g. several different families of plants) Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἔφᾰγον (éphăgon) ← Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂g- ← English poly-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂g-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰh₂g-
  7. Ancient Greekἔφᾰγον (éphăgon)
  8. English todaypolyphagy

From poly- (“many”) + -phagy (“to feed on”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.