cannibalistic

The word's journey begins with the Spanish 'Caníbal', derived from 'Carib', the name of an indigenous people of the West Indies who were reputed to eat human flesh. This term entered European languages in the 16th century. The suffix '-ist', of Greek origin via Latin, was added to form 'cannibalist', a less common agent noun for one who practices cannibalism. Finally, the adjectival suffix '-ic', also from Greek via Latin and French, was appended to create 'cannibalistic', meaning "pertaining to or characteristic of a cannibal." Thus, the term evolved from a specific ethnic name, through a process of generalization and morphological derivation, to describe the abstract quality or behavior of consuming one's own kind.

Structure: cannibal + ist + ic - cannibal: (Origin: Spanish/ Carib, via Latin) The core noun referring to a person who eats human flesh. - ist: (Origin: Greek, via Latin) A suffix forming agent nouns or adjectives meaning "one who practices or is concerned with." - ic: (Origin: Greek, via Latin/French) An adjective-forming suffix meaning "of, pertaining to, or characteristic of."