cannibalise
/ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/verb
cannibalise is spelled C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L-I-S-E. The wrong spelling people search most is cannabalise: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 3 in 10 of all searches for the word. Cannibalise is a verb meaning “To eat (parts of) another of one's own species”.
How many letters and syllables are in cannibalise?
| Letters | 11: C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L-I-S-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 39 million words; the 191,932nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cannabalise, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell cannibalise?
Cannibalise is spelled C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L-I-S-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for cannibalise in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is cannibalise?
Cannibalise appears about once in every 39 million words in written English, the 191,932nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cannibalise?
- /ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cannibalise.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cannibalise
- cannibalises present, singular, he/she/it
- cannibalising participle, present
- cannibalised participle, past
- cannibalize
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cannibalise mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
UKTo eat (parts of) another of one's own species.
The female black widow spider is known to cannibalise the male.
- 2
UKTo remove parts of (a machine, etc) for use in other similar machines.
to cannibalize an old laptop for parts
- 3
UKTo reduce sales or market share (for one of one's own products) by introducing another.
- 4
UKRework old material; rehash.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cannibalise in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | canibalizar , desguazar, despiezar, despezar |
| German | kannibalisieren |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cannibalise come from?
From cannibal + -ise.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).