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balanephagous
Mar. 31st, 2011 07:11 ambalanephagous or balanophagous (bay-leh-NEE-fuh-guhs) - adj., eating acorns.
Properly the first spelling, but sometimes altered to the second because most -phagous words have an -o- in that position. From not Greek roots, as you might expect, but from the existing Greek word balanēphagos, from balanos, acorn + -phagos, adjectival form of phágein, to eat. And, yes, they did have balanephagous animals: pigs. Dictionaries say stress the third syllable, but danged if I can pronounce it that way.
---L.
Properly the first spelling, but sometimes altered to the second because most -phagous words have an -o- in that position. From not Greek roots, as you might expect, but from the existing Greek word balanēphagos, from balanos, acorn + -phagos, adjectival form of phágein, to eat. And, yes, they did have balanephagous animals: pigs. Dictionaries say stress the third syllable, but danged if I can pronounce it that way.
---L.
