Phag-

Roots with similar meanings:

• vor- meaning “swallow”

Roots with opposite meanings:

Roots that could be confused:

• phrag- meaning “fence”

Notes:

Derived English Words

Commonly encountered words are in bold.

Anthropophagy – The eating of human flesh; cannibalism.

Autophagy – The process by which a cell consumes its own components, often as a response to stress or starvation.

Bacteriophage – A virus that infects and consumes bacteria.

Coprophagy – The consumption of feces, observed in some animals.

Dysphagia – Difficulty or discomfort in swallowing.

Geophagy – The practice of eating earth or soil, often for nutritional or medicinal purposes.

Haematophagy – The consumption of blood, characteristic of certain insects and animals (e.g., mosquitoes, leeches).

Histophagous – Feeding on tissue, often used to describe parasitic organisms.

Hyperphagia – Excessive eating or increased appetite, often due to medical or psychological factors.

Ichthyophagous – Feeding on fish.

Lithophagy – The consumption or swallowing of stones or gravel, sometimes seen in birds to aid digestion.

Macrophage – A type of large white blood cell that engulfs and digests foreign substances, cellular debris, and pathogens.

Meliphagous – Feeding on honey or nectar.

Microphage – A small phagocytic cell, typically a white blood cell that engulfs smaller particles like bacteria.

Necrophagy – The consumption of dead or decaying organisms; scavenging.

Oophagy – The consumption of eggs, observed in some animal species, especially in utero.

Osteophagy – The eating of bones, often for nutritional minerals, seen in some animals.

Phagocyte – A cell that engulfs and digests foreign particles, bacteria, and other microorganisms.

Phagocytic – Relating to or involving phagocytes and their ability to engulf foreign substances.

Phagocytosis – The process by which a cell engulfs particles, including bacteria and debris, often for immune defense.

Phagology – The study of eating habits or food consumption.

Phagomania – An abnormal craving or obsession with eating.

Phagophobia – The fear of swallowing or eating, often psychological.

Polyphagia – Excessive or abnormal hunger and eating, often a symptom of certain health conditions.

Saprophagy – The consumption of decaying organic matter, typical of some fungi and insects.

Spongiophagy – The consumption of sponges, generally observed in certain marine species.

Xylophagous – Feeding on wood, as in certain insects like termites.

Other Uses

Links

List of Greek and Latin roots in English – Wikipedia

Words Derived from Roots

Greek Alphabet

Other Roots Used in These Words

Root	Meaning
anthropo-	human
auto-	self
copr-	dung
cyt-	cell
dys-	difficult
geo-	earth
haemat-	blood
hist-	tissue
hyper-	above, beyond
ichthy-	fish
lith-	rock
logy	study of
macro-	large
mani-	crazy
meli-	honey
micro-	small
oo-	egg
oste-	bone
phob-	fear
poly-	many
sapr-	rotten
xylo-	wood