A person who eats human flesh, or more broadly, someone who consumes members of their own species.
From Spanish 'caníbal,' derived from the Arawakan word 'Kalinago,' the name of a Caribbean indigenous people. Columbus and other European explorers used this term, often inaccurately, to describe indigenous peoples they encountered, mixing sensationalism with cultural misunderstanding.
The word's origin reveals how colonizers used exaggeration and fear to justify conquering new lands—many accusations of cannibalism were completely false or wildly exaggerated, yet they shaped European attitudes for centuries. The word is now recognized as carrying heavy colonial baggage.
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