Characterized by or relating to self-eating; describing organisms or cells that consume their own tissue.
From Greek 'auto-' (self) and '-phagous' (eating), literally meaning 'self-eating.' The suffix '-phagous' comes from 'phagein' (to eat), used in biological terminology.
Some insects are autophagous when starving—they'll digest their own wings or limbs to survive longer. Nature's ultimate recycling program shows that sometimes eating yourself is the best survival strategy.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.