'meat-eater' originates from Old English elements: 'meat' (Old English 'mete') and 'eater' (from Old English 'etan' plus the agent suffix '-er'), where 'mete' meant 'food' and 'etan' meant 'to eat'.

'meat' (Old English 'mete') + agent-forming element produced Middle English compounds such as 'mete-eter' (or 'meat-eter'), which later standardized as the modern English compound 'meat-eater'.

Initially, because 'meat' meant 'food' in general, the compound could mean 'one who eats food'; over time, as 'meat' narrowed to mean 'animal flesh', 'meat-eater' came to mean specifically 'one who eats animal flesh'.