Meanings
alternative coprophagia
- uncountableThe act or an instance of eating feces.
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 522 more examples
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 403Other 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 38Synonyms: scatophagy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act or an instance of eating feces.
More synonyms by meaning
nouneating feces; in human a symptom of some kinds of insanity
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱekʷ-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱókʷr̥
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱókʷ-ro-s
- Ancient Greekκόπρος (kópros)
- Englishcopro-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂g-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰh₂g-
- Ancient Greekἔφᾰγον (éphăgon)
- Englishcoprophagy
From copro- (“excrement”) + -phagy (“to feed on”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَكْل البِرَاز
- أَكْل البِرَاز (ʔakl al-birāz)the eating of feces
Catalan coprofàgia
- coprofàgiathe eating of feces
Chinese Mandarin 食糞性 /食粪性, 食糞症 /食粪症
- 食糞性 /食粪性 (shífènxìng)the eating of feces
- 食糞症 /食粪症 (shífènzhèng)the eating of feces
Dutch coprofagie
- coprofagiethe eating of feces
Finnish koprofagia
- koprofagiathe eating of feces
French coprophagie
- coprophagiethe eating of feces
Indonesian koprofagia
- koprofagiathe eating of feces
Japanese 食糞
- 食糞 (shokufun)the eating of feces
Korean 식분증
- 식분증 (sikbunjeung)the eating of feces
Persian مدفوعخواری
- مدفوعخواری (madfu'-xâri)the eating of feces
Polish koprofagia
- koprofagiathe eating of feces
Portuguese coprofagia
- coprofagiathe eating of feces
Spanish coprofagia
- coprofagiathe eating of feces
Swedish koprofagi
- koprofagithe eating of feces
Turkish koprofagi, dışkı yeme
- koprofagithe eating of feces
- dışkı yemethe eating of feces
Vietnamese động vật ăn phân
- động vật ăn phânthe eating of feces
Cite this entry
coprophagy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprophagy
“coprophagy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprophagy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coprophagy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprophagy.
Source: coprophagy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.