cannibal

UK: /ˈkænɪb^əl/ US: /ˈkænəbəl/ ,(kan′ə bəl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

can•ni•bal /ˈkænəbəl/   n. [countable]

1. Anthropology a person or animal that practices cannibalism.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

can•ni•bal  (kan′ə bəl), n. 

1. Anthropology a person who eats human flesh, esp. for magical or religious purposes, as among certain tribal peoples.
2. any animal that eats its own kind.

adj. 

3. pertaining to or characteristic of a cannibal.
4. given to cannibalism.

• Arawak) + -al -al¹; from the belief that the Caribs of the West Indies ate human flesh
• Spanish caníbal, variant of caríbal, equivalent. to canib-, carib- (
• 1545–55

can′ni•bal•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cannibal / ˈkænɪb^əl/ noun

1. a person who eats the flesh of other human beings
2. (as modifier): cannibal tribes
3. an animal that feeds on the flesh of others of its kind

Etymology: 16th Century: from Spanish Canibales, name used by Columbus to designate the indigenous people of Cuba and Haiti, from Arawakan caniba, variant of Carib