-phagia

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The combining form -phagia is used like a suffix meaning “eating” or “devouring” the thing specified by the first part of the word. It is used in some scientific and other technical terms, especially in biology.The form -phagia ultimately comes from the Greek ��󲹲���î��, meaning “to eat, devour.” This Greek root also helps form the word esophagus. Discover the connection at our entry for the word. The word phage, referring to a bacteriophage, is a shortened or independent use of the combining form -phage.The form -phagia is a variant of -phagy, as in cytophagy.Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -phagy article.Closely related to -phagy are -phage and -phagous. A corresponding form of -phagy combined to the beginning of words is phago-. Learn more about their specific applications at our Words That Use articles for the forms.