early 14c., devouren, of beasts or persons, "to eat up entirely, eat ravenously, consume as food," from Old French devorer (12c.) "devour, swallow up, engulf," from Latin devorare "swallow down, accept eagerly," from de "down" (see de-) + vorare "to swallow" (from PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring"). Of persons or inanimate agents (fire, pestilence, etc.) "consume destructively or wastefully," late 14c. To "swallow up" figuratively (a book, etc.) from 1580s; to "take in ravenously" with the eyes, 1620s. Related: Devoured; devouring.

also *gwera-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "food, devouring."

It forms all or part of: carnivorous; devour; gorge; gurges; hellebore; herbivore; herbivorous; insectivore; locavore; omnivorous; voracious; voracity; -vorous.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit girati "devours, swallows," garah "drink;" Avestan aspo-gar- "devouring horses," nere-gar- "devouring men;" Greek bobroskein "to eat, digest," brotos "edible," brosis "eating," bora "fodder;" Latin vorare "to swallow, devour;" Armenian e-ker "ate;" Lithuanian gerti "to drink," gìrtas "drunk;" Old Church Slavonic žiro "to swallow," grŭlo "gullet," po-žreti "to eat" (of animals), "to devour."

word-forming element meaning "eating," from Latin -vorous, from stem of vorare "to devour" (from PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring").

insect excrement, 1854, from German frasz, from root of fressen "to devour, to eat as a beast does" (see fret (v.)).

"type of large white blood cell with the power to devour foreign debris in the body or other cells or organisms," 1890, from macro- "large" + -phage "eater."

"blackhead; hard, blackish tubercule on the skin of the face," 1852, from Latin comedo "glutton," from comedere "to eat up" (see comestible). A name formerly given to worms that devour the body; transferred in medical use to secretions that resemble them.

"plant-eating," 1660s, from Modern Latin herbivorus, from Latin herba "a plant" (see herb) + vorare "devour, swallow" (from PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring").

1863, from French insectivore (1817), from Latin insectivorus, from combining form of insectum (see insect) + vorare "devour, swallow" (from PIE root *gwora- "food, devouring").

1650s, from Latin gramineus "of grass, grassy," from gramen (genitive graminis) "grass, fodder," from PIE *gras-men-, suffixed form of root *gras- "to devour" (see gastric). The Latin adjective also is the source of the botanical order of Gramineae.

"voracious, savage," late 14c., present-participle adjective from an extinct verb ravine, raven "to prey, to plunder, devour greedily" (mid-14c.), from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage" (see raven (v.)). It is etymologically related to ravenous, but not to raven (n.). Related: Raveningly.