The word says its own meaning if you split it: carn- is flesh and -vore is eating. So one way to hold it is a label that answers a single question — what does this thing live on? Stick the label on a tiger and you have the plain meaning. The interesting part is what happens when the label stops being a report and becomes a name: it can stay on a group of animals even after one of them changes its diet, and it can be put on a friend at dinner as a joke.

這個字拆開來就是它的意思:carn- 是肉,-vore 是吃。所以可以想成一張回答單一問題的標籤——這東西靠什麼過活?貼在老虎身上,就是最字面的意思。有趣的是,這張標籤後來從「描述」變成了「名字」:它可以固定在一群動物身上,就算其中一隻改吃竹子也不換掉;也可以在飯桌上開玩笑地貼到朋友身上。

From the word’s history

Borrowed from French carnivore, from Latin carnivorus. The zoological use was coined by William Whewell in 1840, adapting Cuvier's French carnivore.

經由法文 carnivore 借自拉丁文 carnivorus。動物學上的分類用法則是 William Whewell 在 1840 年依居維葉的法文用法改造出來的。

Wiktionary 'carnivore' etymology, supplied in the evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:542819972)

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