Meaning of patriphagy | Babel Free

Definitions

The act of consuming one's own father, either by a person or another organism.

rare, uncountable

Examples

“His was perhaps rather a practical rather than a speculative bent, but let us not forget his unflinching faith in the future, and let us remember, too, that in his passing he helped to shape the basic social institutions of parricide and patriphagy which give continuity both to the community and to the individual.”

“Cannibalism is known to occur within, as well as among, different life stages, including adults consuming eggs, juveniles, or other adults, juveniles consuming eggs or other juveniles (Elgar & Crespi 1992), and even, rarely, filial cannibalism wherein adults consume their own young (Bartlett 1987, Stevens 1992) and matriphagy/patriphagy where young consume their own parents (Toyama 1999, Kim et al. 2000, Suzuki et al. 2005, Tizo-Pedroso & Del-Claro 2005).”

“The tale of Trajan’s family is preceded by a tale of three ships full of Vespasian’s Jewish captives from Jerusalem sent into sexual slavery in Rome, who committed suicide by throwing themselves into the sea while reciting a verse from the Psalms, and the tale of the dire conditions during Hadrian’s invasion of Palestine that caused such severe hunger that it led to inadvertent patriphagy.”

CEFR level