herbívoro
/eɾˈbiboɾo/masculine
The Spanish word for herbivore is herbívoro.
This noun refers to an organism that eats plants.
Meaning: plant-eating organism (noun)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Spain, the word fitófago is sometimes used as an alternative to herbívoro.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun changes its ending to agree with the subject: use herbívora for a feminine subject and herbívoros for the masculine plural. The feminine plural form is herbívoras.
How do you pronounce it?
/eɾˈbiboɾo/
Did you know?
- While herbívoro is common, Spanish scientists may use fitófago, which uses the Greek root phyto meaning 'plant'.
- While herbívoro describes a diet, the related Spanish word voraz is frequently used as a personality trait to describe people who are greedy or insatiable.
- The Spanish word herbívoro is a 'learned borrowing', meaning it was consciously adopted from Latin rather than evolving naturally through spoken centuries of Vulgar Latin.
Examples in context
- El elefante es un animal herbívoro que se alimenta principalmente de hierbas y hojas.The elephant is a herbivorous animal that mainly feeds on grass and leaves.
- La vaca es un animal fitófago, ya que su principal fuente de alimentación es el pasto.The cow is a phytophage animal since its main food source is grass.
- Este insecto es un herbívoro pequeño.This insect is a small herbivore.
- Todo herbívoro necesita comer muchas plantas.Every herbivore needs to eat many plants.
Example conversation
Two students are talking about animals in a biology class.
- DanielSofía, ¿sabes qué es un herbívoro?Sofía, do you know what a herbivore is?
- SofíaSí, Daniel, es un animal que come plantas.Yes, Daniel, it is an animal that eats plants.
- DanielEntonces, ¿la vaca es un herbívoro?So, is the cow a herbivore?
- SofíaExacto, las vacas son herbívoro.Exactly, cows are herbivores.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “herbivore” translations and entries herbívoro, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries herbívoro, CC BY-SA 4.0.
