Producing, bearing, or containing flesh or meat; flesh-bearing.
From Latin 'carnifer' (flesh-bearing), composed of 'caro' (flesh) and '-fer' (bearing or carrying, from 'ferre'). This is a learned scientific term rarely used outside technical contexts.
Carniferous is a linguistic cousin to 'carnivorous,' but it's almost extinct in English—most -ferous words (like 'pestiferous') are technical terms that show how Latin root-stacking let scientists create precise meanings, though English speakers forgot this method.
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