How to Say "Cannibal" in Turkish

yamyam

/jamjam/from spelling rules

The English word 'cannibal' is translated into Turkish as yamyam.

yamyam is a noun used to describe an organism that eats others of its own species.

Meaning: an organism which eats others of its own species (noun)

How do you pronounce it?

The pronunciation is /jamjam/. The /j/ sound is like the [y] in [y]es, and the /m/ sound is like the [m] in [m]uch.

The term yamyam was once used as a proper name for the Azande people of North Central Africa before it became a general noun for any cannibal in Turkish.
The word yamyam is believed to come from the Dinka language word for 'great eaters'.
In Turkish, yamyam can be used to describe a person who is ruthlessly ambitious in politics or business, destroying their own colleagues to get ahead.

Karl yamyama ateş etti.
Karl shot the cannibal.
This sentence shows the use of yamyam in a sentence where someone is being shot.
Tatoeba #11635969 by deyta, translation #11635629 by Amastan
Tom artık resmen bir yamyam.
Tom is now officially a cannibal.
This sentence shows how to describe someone as being officially a yamyam.
Tatoeba #6896960 by SadeceTurkce, translation #6896547 by Eccles17
Bir insanı kurtar. Bir yamyam ye.
Save a human. Eat a cannibal.
This sentence provides a command involving the word yamyam.
Tatoeba #5314673 by deyta, translation #451569 by saeb
Bu filmde yamyam bir karakter var ve insan eti yiyor.
This movie features a cannibal character who eats human flesh.
Geçmişte, insan yiyenler mitlerde ve hikayelerde yer aldı.
In the past, person-eaters appeared in myths and stories.
5 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are discussing a nature documentary they watched.

Burak

Bu belgeselde bir yamyam türünden bahsettiler.
They mentioned a cannibal species in this documentary.
Elif

Gerçekten mi? Bu çok korkunç.
Really? That is very scary.
Burak

Evet, kendi türünü yiyen bir hayvan.
Yes, an animal that eats its own species.
Elif

Doğanın ne kadar vahşi olduğuna inanılmaz.
It is incredible how wild nature is.

Sources

Wiktionary, “cannibal” translations and entries yamyam, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Turkish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries yamyam, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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